UC-NRLF 


B    M    DflT    033 


HARRY  W  FRENCH 
ABD  EL  AiBAVAN 


CDUC. 
LIBRARY 


THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

A  STORY  OF  ARABIA 


eouc.- 

PSYC'l 


THE 
LANCE   OF   KANANA 

A  STORY  OF  ARABIA 

BY 

HARRY  W.   FRENCH 

("ABD  EL  ARDAVAN") 

WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS  BY  QARRETT 


BOSTON 
LOTHROP,    LEE   &   SHEPARD   CO. 


COPYRIGHT,  1892,  BY 
D.  LOTHROP  COMPANY 

COPYRIGHT,  1916,  BY  LOTHROP,  LEE  &  SHEPARD  Co 
COPYRIGHT,  1920,  BY  GEORGE  A.  FRENCH 


THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 


P»INTEB   TN   tT.S.A. 


If  1^7 


ENCIRCLED  by  the  fiery,  trackless  sand, 

A  fainting  Arab  halted  at  a  well 
Held  in  the  hollow  of  the  desert's  hand. 

Empty!    Hope  vanished,  and  he  gasped  and 

fell. 
At  night  the  West  Wind  wafted  o'er  the  land 

The  welcome  dew,  a  promise  to  foretell: 
Hers  this  result,  for  which  she  bade  him  stand. 


M723812 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  THE  COWARD  OF  THE  BENI  SADS      .     .     11 

II.  THE  OLD  SHEIK'S  PROMISE   ....     20 

III.  AT  THE  FOOT  OP  MOUNT  HOR      ...    27 

IV.  THE   PROMISE 38 

V.    LED  BY  A  WHITE  CAMEL 52 

VI.  KANANA  AND  THE  CALIPH      ....     61 

VII.  A  PRIZE  WORTH  WINNING     ....     74 

VEIL    To  SEEK  THE  BENI  SADS 86 

IX.    FOR  ALLAH  AND  ARABIA 100 

X.  KANANA'S  THIRD  MISSION     ....  115 

XI.    THE  SACRED  GIRDLE 125 

XII.    KANANA'S  MESSENGERS 135 

XIII.  THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA  .                     .  147 


THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 


THE   COWAED  OF  THE  BENT  SADS 

KANANA  was  an  Arab — a  Bedouin 
boy  of  many  years  ago,  born  upon 
the  desert,  of  the  seed  of  Ishmael,  of  the 
tribe  of  Beni  Sad. 

It  seems  well-nigh  impossible  that  the 
Bedouin  boy  could  have  lived  who  was  not 
accustomed  to  the  use  of  the  sword  and 
lance,  long  before  he  reached  the  dignity 
of  manhood. 

The  peculiar  thing  about  Kanana  was 
that  he  never  held  a  lance  in  his  hand  but 
once;  yet  many  a  celebrated  sheik  and 
powerful  chieftain  of  his  day  lies  dead, 
buried,  and  forgotten  long  ago,  while  the 

name  of  Kanana  is  still  a  magic  battle- 
11 


12       THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

cry  among  the  sons  of  Ishmael,  and  his 
lance  is  one  of  the  most  precious  relics  of 
Arabia. 

The  old  mothers  and  the  white-haired 
veterans  love  to  tell  the  story  of  the  lance 
of  Kanana ;  their  black  eyes  flash  like  coals 
of  fire  when  they  say  of  it  that  it  rescued 
Arabia. 

The  Beni  Sads  were  a  powerful  tribe 
of  roving  Bedouins.  Kanana  was  the 
youngest  son  of  the  venerable  chief;  the 
sheik  who  in  the  days  of  his  strength  was 
known  from  the  Euphrates  to  the  sea  as 
the  " Terror  of  the  Desert." 

By  a  custom  older  than  the  boyhood  of 
King  David  it  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  young- 
est son  to  tend  his  father's  sheep.  The 
occupation  was  not  considered  dignified. 
It  was  not  to  Kanana 's  liking  and  it  need 
not  have  lasted  long ;  for  the  Terror  of  the 
Desert  thought  more  of  making  warriors 
than  shepherds  of  his  sons,  but  greatly  to 
his  father's  disgust  Kanana  refused  to  ex- 
change his  shepherd's  staff  for  a  warrior's 


KANAMA  STOOD   UPOiN  THE  VERY   EDGE  OF  THE  WHITE 
PORCH. 


THE  COWARD  OF  BENI  SADS    13 

lance.  It  was  not  that  he  loved  the  staff, 
but  that  he  objected  to  the  lance. 

The  tribe  called  Kanana  effeminate  be- 
cause he  was  thoughtful  and  quiet,  where 
other  boys  were  turbulent,  and  as  he  grew 
older  and  the  boyish  fancy  became  a  de- 
cided conviction  against  the  combats  con- 
stantly going  on  between  the  different 
tribes,  they  even  called  him  a  coward  and 
said  that  he  did  not  dare  to  fight. 

There  is  but  one  name  more  bitter  than 
" co ward"  to  the  Arab.  That  name  is 
"  traitor, "  and  after  being  called  a  coward 
almost  all  his  life,  the  very  last  words 
which  Kanana  heard  from  the  lips  of  his 
countrymen  came  in  frantic  yells,  calling 
him  a  traitor. 

To-day,  however,  it  is  always  with  throb- 
bing hearts  and  flashing  eyes  that  they  re- 
peat the  story  of  the  Lance  of  Kanana  that 
rescued  Arabia. 

Until  he  was  five  years  old,  Kanana 
rolled  about  in  the  sand  and  sunshine,  like 
the  other  children,  with  nothing  on  him 


14       THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

but  a  twisted  leather  cord,  tied  round  Ms 
waist. 

Then,  for  five  years,  according  to  the 
custom  of  his  people,  he  helped  the  women 
of  his  father's  tent;  shaking  the  goat-skin 
filled  with  cream  till  it  turned  into  butter ; 
watching  the  kedder  upon  the  fire,  drying 
the  buttermilk  to  be  ground  into  flour,  and 
digging  kemma,  which  grow  like  truffles, 
under  the  sand. 

After  he  was  ten,  for  three  years  he 
watched  the  sheep  and  goats  and  the  she- 
camels.  That  was  the  regular  course  of 
education  through  which  all  Bedouin  boys 
must  pass. 

When  he  reached  the  age  at  which  Ish- 
mael  was  sent  away  with  Hagar  by 
Abraham,  he  was  supposed  to  drop  all 
menial  labor  and  take  his  place  among 
men;  making  a  position  for  himself  accord- 
ing to  the  fighting  qualities  which  he  pos- 
sessed. 

Kanana's  fighting  qualities,  however, 
only  exhibited  in  the  warfare  which 


THE  COWAED  OF  BENI  SADS    15 

now  began  between  him  and  his  father. 

There  were  at  that  time  very  few  oc- 
cupations open  to  the  Bedouin  boy.  The 
tribe  was  celebrated  for  its  men  of  learn- 
ing and  boasted  the  most  skillful  physicians 
in  all  Arabia;  but  they  had  all  won  their 
first  laurels  with  the  lance,  and  none  of 
them  wanted  Kanana. 

Three  times  his  father  came  to  him  with 
the  question:  "Are  you  ready  to  be  a 
man?"  and  three  times  Kanana  replied, 
"My  father,  I  can  not  lift  a  lance  to  take 
a  life,  unless  it  be  for  Allah  and  Arabia." 

How  he  came  by  a  notion  so  curious  no 
Arab  could  tell.  The  lad  well  knew  the 
old  decree  that  the  hand  of  the  Ishmaelite 
should  be  against  every  man,  and  every 
man's  hand  against  him.  He  knew  that 
every  Arab  of  the  desert  lived  by  a  war- 
fare that  was  simply  murder  and  robbery. 
Was  he  not  an  Arab,  and  an  Ishmaelite? 

Alone,  among  the  sheep  and  camels,  he 
had  thought  out  his  own  theory.  Kanana 
said  to  himself,  "I  am  taught  that  Allah 


16       THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

created  these  animals  and  cares  for  them, 
and  that  I  cannot  please  him  if  I  allow 
them  to  suffer ;  it  must  be  surely  that  men 
are  more  precious  to  Allah  than  animals. 
Why  should  we  kill  one  another,  even  if 
we  are  Arabs  and  Ishmaelites  ? " 

The  menial  tasks  still  allotted  to  Kanana 
grew  more  and  more  irksome.  His  pun- 
ishment was  far  more  keen  than  the  tribe 
supposed;  no  one  dreamed  of  the  sharp 
cringe  of  pain  with  which  he  heard  even 
the  children  call  him  a  coward. 

There  were  some  faculties  which  Ka- 
nana possessed  that  made  the  war- 
riors all  envy  him.  He  had  a  remarkable 
power  over  animals.  No  other  Beni  Sad 
could  ride  a  camel  or  a  horse  so  fast  as 
Kanana.  The  most  refractory  creature 
would  obey  Kanana.  Then,  too,  Kanana 
was  foremost  in  the  games  and  races.  No 
other  shepherd's  eye  was  nearly  so  quick 
as  Kanana 's  to  detect  an  enemy  approach- 
ing the  flocks  at  night.  No  other  young 
Bedouin,  watching  the  ripening  grain, 


THE  COWAED  OF  BENI  SADS    17 

could  throw  a  stone  from  his  sling  so  far 
and  so  accurately  at  the  robber  birds. 

These  -accomplishments,  however,  only 
made  his  father  the  more  angry  that  Ka- 
nana  would  not  turn  his  gifts  to  some  more 
profitable  end. 

Every  year  for  three  months — from 
planting  to  harvest-time — the  Beni  Sads 
encamped  upon  a  river  bank,  on  the  out- 
skirts of  the  Great  Desert. 

The  encampment  numbered  nearly  five 
hundred  tents  set  in  four  rows  as  straight 
as  an  arrow  flies. 

These  tents,  of  black  goats '-hair  cloth, 
were  seven  feet  high  in  the  center  and  five 
feet  high  on  the  sides.  Some  of  them  were 
twenty  feet  broad,  and  each  was  divided 
by  a  beautiful  hanging  white  Damascus 
carpet.  The  men  occupied  one  side,  and 
the  women  and  children  the  other.  The 
favorite  mare  and  the  most  valuable  of  the 
camels  always  slept  by  the  tent,  and  the 
master's  lance  stood  thrust  into  the  ground 
at  the  entrance. 


18       THE  LANCE  OF  KANAKA 

Far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  up  and  down 
the  sluggish  river,  a  field  of  ripening  grain 
filled  the  narrow  space  between  the  yellow 
water  and  the  silver-gray  of  the  desert 
sand. 

Here  and  there,  through  the  grain-field, 
rose  curious  perches — platforms,  con- 
structed upon  poles  driven  into  the  ground. 
Upon  these  platforms  watchers  were  sta- 
tioned when  the  grain  began  to  head,  and 
there  they  remained,  night  and  day,  till  it 
was  harvested,  frightening  the  birds  away. 

Once  a  day  the  women  brought  them 
food,  consisting  of  buttermilk,  dried  and 
ground  and  mixed  with  melted  butter  and 
dates;  these  same  women  renewed  the 
supply  of  stones  to  throw  at  the  birds. 

The  watchers  were  old  men,  women  who 
were  not  needed  in  the  tents,  and  little 
children;  but  all  alone,  this  year,  upon  the 
most  distant  perch,  sat  Kanana. 

There  was  not  one  of  the  tribe  but  felt 
that  he  richly  deserved  this  disgrace;  and 
Kanana  could  see  no  way  to  earn  their  re- 


THE  COWARD  OF  BENI  SADS    19 

spect,  no  way  to  prove  "himself  a  brave 
fellow.  He  was  glad  that  they  had  given 
him  the  most  distant  perch,  for  there  he 
could  bear  his  hard  lot,  away  from  jests 
and  jeers. 

The  women  who  brought  the  food  stopped 
for  a  long  time  at  some  of  the  perches, 
reporting  all  the  news,  but  they  never 
troubled  themselves  to  relieve  Kanana's 
solitude.  The  perches  were  too  far  apart 
for  conversation.  Kanana  had  always 
time  enough  to  think,  and  as  the  grain 
grew  yellow  this  year,  he  came  to  two  posi- 
tive conclusions.  He  firmly  resolved  that 
before  the  reapers  entered  that  field  he 
would  do  something  to  convince  his  people 
that  he  was  not  a  coward ;  failing  that,  he 
would  hang  his  head  in  shame,  acknowledge 
that  they  were  right,  and  fly  forever  from 
their  taunts. 


n 

THE  OLD  SHEIK'S  PEOMISE 

THE  sun  was  beating  fiercely  down 
upon  Kanana's  perch,  but  he  had  not 
noticed  it.  The  stones  piled  beside  him 
for  his  sling  were  almost  hot  enough  to 
burn  his  hand,  but  he  did  not  realize  it,  for 
he  had  not  touched  them  for  a  long  time. 
The  wooden  dish  of  paste  and  dates  stood 
in  the  shadow  of  the  perch.  He  had  not 
tasted  them. 

The  pile  of  stones  grew  hotter  and  hot- 
ter. The  hungry  birds  ate  and  quarreled 
and  ate  with  no  one  to  disturb  them.  The 
Bedouin  boy  sat  cross-legged  on  his  perch, 
heedless  of  everything,  twisting  and  un- 
twisting the  leather  cords  of  his  sling, 
struggling  to  look  into  the  mists  that  cov- 
ered up  his  destiny. 

"Hi,  there!  you  slothful  son  of  a  brave 
20 


THE  OLD  SHEIK'S  PEOMISE       21 

father!  Look  at  the  birds  about  you! 
Are  you  dead,  or  only  sleeping!"  sounded 
the  distant  but  shrill  and  painfully  distinct 
voice  of  an  old  woman  who,  with  two  chil- 
dren much  younger  than  Kanana,  occupied 
the  next  perch. 

Kanana  roused  himself  and  sent  the 
stones  flying  from  his  sling  till  there  was 
not  a  bird  in  sight.  Then  he  sank  into  deep 
thought  once  more;  with  his  head  resting 
upon  his  hands  he  became  oblivious  to 
everything. 

Suddenly  he  was  roused  by  the  sound  of 
horses'  hoofs  upon  the  sandy  soil,  a  sharp 
rustling  in  the  drying  grain.  He  looked 
up,  as  thoroughly  startled  as  though  he 
had  been  sleeping,  to  see  approaching  him 
the  one  person  than  whom  he  would  rather 
that  any  or  all  of  the  tribe  of  Beni  Sad 
should  find  him  negligent  at  his  post  of 
duty. 

It  was  his  father. 

"Oh,  Kanana!  oh,  Kanana!"  cried  the 
old  man,  angrily.  "Thou  son  of  my  old 


22       THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

age,  why  didst  thou  come  into  the  world 
to  curse  me?  When  thou  shakest  the 
cream,  the  butter  is  spoiled.  When  thou 
tendest  the  sheep,  they  are  stolen !  When 
thou  watchest  the  grain,  it  is  eaten  before 
thy  face !  What  shall  a  father  do  with  a 
son  who  will  neither  lift  his  hand  among 
men  nor  bear  a  part  with  women?  And 
now,  when  all  the  miseries  of  life  have 
taken  hold  upon  me  and  the  floods  cover 
me,  thou  sittest  at  thine  ease  to  mock  me  I" 

Kanana  sprang  down  from  his  perch. 
Kneeling,  he  touched  his  forehead  to  the 
ground. 

"My  father,  slay  me  and  I  will  take  it 
as  a  mercy  from  thy  hand.  Or,  as  I  am 
fit  for  nothing  here,  bid  me  go,  and  among 
strangers  I  will  beg.  But  thou  shalt  not, 
my  father,  speak  of  me  as  ungrateful,  un- 
filial.  I  know  of  no  flood  of  sorrow  that 
has  come  down  upon  thee. ' ' 

' '  Thou  knowest  not  what  they  all  know  ? ' ' 
exclaimed  the  old  man  fiercely. 

"I  know  of  nothing,  my  father.    Since 


THE  OLD  SHEIK'S  PEOMISE       23 

I  came  into  the  field,  three  weeks  ago,  no 
one  has  spoken  to  me  but  to  chide  me." 

"Then  know  now,"  replied  the  sheik  re- 
proachfully, "that  of  thy  two  brave  broth- 
ers who  went  with  the  last  caravan,  one 
has  returned,  wounded  and  helpless,  and 
the  other,  for  an  old  cause  of  blood  be- 
tween our  tribes,  has  been  made  a  prisoner 
by  Raschid  Airikat.  The  whole  caravan, 
with  the  white  camel  at  its  head,  Raschid 
has  taken,  and  he  has  turned  with  it  to- 
ward Damascus." 

"Thy  part  of  the  caravan  was  very 
small,  my  father,"  said  Kanana.  "Only 
four  of  the  camels  were  thine,  and  but  for 
the  white  camel  they  were  all  very  old. 
Their  burdens,  too,  saving  my  brothers, 
were  only  honey  and  clay-dust,  of  little 
value." 

This  was  the  simple  truth,  and  evinced 
at  least  a  very  practical  side  to  Kanana 's 
mind ;  but  it  was  not  the  kind  of  sympathy 
which  the  sheik  desired,  and  his  anger 
burst  out  afresh  against  Kanana. 


24       THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

"Ay,  them  tender  of  flocks,  and  sleeper!" 
he  cried.  "Wouldst  thou  teach  me  the 
value  of  camels  and  merchandise  to  com- 
fort me?  And  hast  thou  fixed  the  price  of 
ransom  which  Airikat  will  demand,  or  slay 
thy  brother?  And  hast  thou  reckoned  up 
the  value  of  the  white  camel  which  could 
not  be  bought  for  gold,  as  it  brought  to 
thy  father  and  thy  father's  father  all  their 
abundance  of  good?  Answer  me,  if  thou 
art  so  wise.  Oh,  that  I  had  a  son  remain- 
ing who  could  lift  a  lance  against  this 
Airikat  as  bravely  as  he  hurls  his  empty 
words  at  an  old  father ! ' ' 

"My  father,"  said  Kanana  earnestly, 
"give  me  a  horse,  a  sack  of  grain,  a  skin 
of  water,  and  I  will  follow  after  Easchid 
Airikat.  I  will  not  slay  him,  but,  by  the 
help  of  Allah,  I  will  bring  back  to  thee  thy 
white  camel  with  my  brother  seated  upon 
his  back." 

The  old  sheik  made  a  gesture  of  derision : 
"Thou  wisp  of  flax  before  a  fire!  Thou 
reed  before  a  whirlwind!  Get  thee  back 


THE  OLD  SHEIK'S  PROMISE       25 

to  thy  perch  and  thy  birds,  and  see  if  thou 
canst  keep  awake  till  sundown.  Harvest- 
ing will  begin  with  the  daylight  to-mor- 
row. See  that  thou  workest  then." 

Kanana  rose  to  his  feet.  Looking 
calmly  into  the  old  sheik's  angry  face,  he 
replied; 

"  My  father,  I  will  watch  the  birds  till 
sundown.  Then  let  others  do  the  reaping. 
Kanana,  whom  thou  scornest,  will  be  far 
away  upon  the  desert,  to  seek  and  find  his 
brother." 

"Did  I  not  say  I  would  not  trust  a  horse 
to  thee?"  exclaimed  the  old  man,  looking 
at  him  in  astonishment. 

"These  feet  of  mine  can  do  my  bidding 
well  enough,"  replied  Kanana.  "And  by 
the  beard  of  the  Prophet  they  shall  do  it 
till  they  have  returned  to  thee  thy  son  and 
thy  white  camel.  I  would  do  something, 
oh,  my  father,  that  I,  too,  might  have  thy 
blessing  and  not  thy  curse.  It  is  the  voice 
of  Allah  bids  me  go.  Now  say  to  me  that 
if  I  bring  them  back  then  thou  wilt  bless 


26       THE  LANCE  OF  XANANA 

me,  too,  ay,  even  though  still  I  will  not  lift 
a  lance,  unless  it  be  for  Allah  and  Arabia. ' ' 

The  aged  warrior  looked  down  in  a  sort 
of  scornful  pity  upon  his  boy,  standing 
among  the  stalks  of  grain;  half  in  jest, 
half  in  charity,  he  muttered,  "Yes,  then  I 
will  bless  thee,"  and  rode  away. 

The  harvesting  began,  as  the  old  sheik 
had  said,  with  the  next  daylight,  but  Ka- 
nana  was  not  among  the  reapers. 

Few  so  much  as  missed  him,  even,  and 
those  who  did,  supposed  that  he  had  hidden 
himself  to  avoid  their  jests. 

Only  the  sullen  sheik,  bowed  under  his 
affliction,  thought  often  of  Kanana  as  he 
rode  up  and  down  the  line.  He  remem- 
bered his  looks,  his  words.  He  wondered 
if  he  could  have  been  mistaken  in  the  boy. 
He  wished  he  had  given  him  the  horse  and 
that  he  had  blessed  him  before  he  went 
away. 


m 

AT  THE  FOOT  OP   MOUNT  HOB 

THE  moment  the  sun  sank  into  the 
billows  of  sand  Kanana  had  left  his 
perch. 

From  the  loaded  stalks  about  him  he 
gathered  a  goafs-hair  sack  of  grain  and 
fastened  it  upon  his  back.  There  was  no 
one  to  whom  he  need  say  farewell,  and, 
armed  only  with  his  shepherd's  staff,  he 
started  away  upon  the  desert,  setting  his 
course  to  the  north  and  west. 

Before  he  had  gone  far  he  passed  a  lad 
of  about  his  own  age  who  had  come  from 
the  encampment  to  hunt  for  desert-rats. 
Had  Kanana  seen  him  he  would  have  made 
a  wide  detour,  but  the  boy  lay  so  still  upon 
the  sand  that  the  first  Kanana  knew  of  his 
presence  was  when  a  low  sarcastic  voice 
uttered  his  name. 

27 


28       THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

' '  Kanana ! ' '  it  exclaimed.  *  '  Thou  here  \ 
Dost  thou  not  fear  that  some  rat  may  bite 
thee?  Whither  darest  thou  to  go,  thus,  all 
alone,  and  after  dark,  upon  the  sand?" 

Fire  flashed  from  Kanana 's  eyes.  His 
hand  clutched  his  shepherd's  staff  and  in- 
voluntarily he  lifted  it ;  but  the  better  coun- 
sel of  his  curious  notions  checked  the  blow. 
It  was  so  dark  that  the  boy  upon  the  sand 
did  not  notice  the  effect  of  his  taunts  and 
knew  nothing  of  his  narrow  escape.  He 
only  heard  the  quiet  voice  of  Kanana  as 
presently  it  meekly  replied  to  his  question : 

"I  go  to  Mount  Hor." 

It  was  an  answer  so  absurd  that  the  boy 
gave  it  no  second  thought  and  by  the  time 
that  the  f  oosteps  of  Kanana  had  died  away 
the  rat-hunter  had  as  utterly  forgotten  him 
as  though  he  had  never  existed. 

To  Mount  Hor? 

Kanana  had  only  the  most  imperfect  in- 
formation to  guide  him.  He  knew  that  the 
Beni  Sad  caravan  had  been  for  some  days 
upon  the  road  southward,  to  Mecca,  when 


AT  THE  FOOT  OF  MOUNT  HOR     29 

it  was  captured  by  Baschid  Airikat  and 
turned  at  an  angle,  northward,  toward  Da- 
mascus. 

Seen  from  a  great  distance,  over  the  sea 
of  sand,  the  solitary  peak  of  old  Mount 
Hor,  where  Aaron,  the  great  high  priest  of 
Israel,  was  buried,  forms  a  startling  bea- 
con. By  day  or  night,  it  rises  clear  and 
sharp  against  the  sky,  guiding  the  caravans 
northward,  from  Arabia  to  Jerusalem  and 
Damascus,  and  southward  from  Syria  to 
Medina  and  Mecca;  while  the  fertile  oasis 
about  it  is  the  universal  resting-place. 

Kanana  was  not  at  all  sure  that  the  cara- 
van would  not  have  passed  Mount  Hor 
long  before  he  could  reach  it;  but  if  so,  it 
must  in  time  return  that  way,  and,  in  any 
case,  of  all  Arabia  Mount  Hor  was  the  one 
spot  where  he  could  be  sure  to  gather  fur- 
ther information  from  passing  caravans. 

He  knew  his  path  upon  that  shifting  sand 
as  well  as  an  Indian  knew  his  way  through 
the  trackless  forests  of  New  England. 
With  the  sun  and  stars  above  him,  any 


30       THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

Arab  would  have  scorned  the  idea  of  being 
lost  in  Arabia,  and  through  the  long  night 
with  strong  and  steady  strides  Kanana 
pressed  onward  toward  Mount  Hor. 

As  the  harvest  moon  rose  above  the  des- 
ert, behind  him,  the  Bedouin  boy  was  softly 
chanting  from  the  second  sura  of  Al  Ko- 
ran: 

' '  God,  there  is  no  God  but  him ; 

The  Living !    The  Eternal. 

Slumber  doth  not  overtake  him, 

Neither  Sleep. 

And  upholding  all  things, 

To  him  is  no  burden. 

He  is  the  Lofty  and  the  Great." 

His  long,  black  shadow  fell  over  the  sil- 
ver sand,  and,  watching  it,  he  chanted  the 
Koran  again : 

"God  is  God.  Whatever  of  good  betideth  thee 
cometh  from  him. 

"Whatever  of  evil  is  thine  own  doing." 

Suddenly  a  speck  appeared  upon  the  dis- 
tant horizon.  None  but  the  keen  eye  of  a 
shepherd  would  have  seen  it,  in  the  night, 


AT  THE  FOOT  OF  MOUNT  HOE     31 

but  Kanana  watched  it  as  it  quivered  and 
wavered,  disappearing  as  it  sank  into  a 
valley  in  the  rolling  sand,  appearing  again, 
like  a  dory  on  the  ocean,  each  time  a  little 
nearer  than  before. 

Kanana  noted  the  direction  the  speck  was 
taking,  and  he  made  a  wide  path  for  it ;  he 
crouched  among  the  sand-shrubs  when  it 
came  too  near. 

First  a  small  party  of  horsemen  passed 
him,  the  advance  guard  of  a  moving  tribe. 
Then  came  the  main  body  of  men  upon 
camels  and  horses;  but  the  only  sounds 
were  made  by  the  feet  of  the  animals  and 
the  clanking  of  the  weapons.  The  she- 
camels  with  their  young  followed ;  then  the 
sheep  and  goats  driven  by  a  few  men  on 
foot;  next,  the  camels  laden  with  the  tents 
and  furniture;  last  of  all  the  women  and 
children  of  the  tribe  accompanied  by  an- 
other armed  escort. 

From  all  that  company  there  was  not  a 
sound  but  of  the  sand  and  the  trappings. 
There  was  nothing  but  shadows,  swinging, 


32       THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

swaying  shadows,  moving  like  phantoms 
over  the  white  sand,  as  the  trailing  train 
went  gliding  on,  in  that  mysterious  land  of 
shadows  and  silhouettes. 

There  was  nothing  in  it  that  was  weird 
to  Kanana,  however.  He  hid  himself  sim- 
ply as  a  precaution.  He  had  often  been  a 
part  of  such  a  caravan,  and  he  knew  from 
experience,  that  if  a  solitary  Arab  were 
found  upon  the  desert,  he  would  very 
quickly  be  forced  to  help  drive  the  sheep 
and  goats,  and  kept  at  it  until  he  could 
make  his  escape.  Any  Arab  boy  would 
have  hidden  himself. 

Long  before  Kanana 's  next  halt  the  sun 
was  pouring  down  his  furious  heat.  To 
his  great  good  fortune  he  came  upon  a 
bowlder  rising  out  of  the  sand;  there  he 
quickly  made  a  place  for  himself  where  the 
sun  could  not  reach  him  and  lying  down 
slept  until  night. 

Only  one  who  has  walked  upon  a  desert, 
hour  after  hour,  parched  with  thirst  and 
utterly  exhausted  in  the  fierce  glare  and 


AT  THE  FOOT  OF  MOUNT  HOE     33 

heat  can  properly  appreciate  the  Bible  pic- 
ture of  "the  shadow  of  a  great  rock  in  a 
weary  land.' ' 

Had  he  not  found  this  rock  Kanana 
would  simply  have  dug  a  hole  in  the  sand 
and  forced  himself  into  it. 

Here  and  there  as  he  pressed  on,  Kanana 
saw  grim  skeletons  of  men  and  animals  as 
they  lay  whitening  among  the  sand-shrubs, 
but  he  paid  them  little  attention.  Before 
the  sun  had  set,  upon  the  second  day,  he 
beheld  the  distant  summit  of  Mount  Hor 
cutting  sharply  into  the  blue  sky. 

The  sight  renewed  his  strength.  Hour 
after  hour  he  pressed  onward,  with  his 
eyes  fixed  upon  the  tomb  of  Aaron,  a  white 
monument  upon  the  summit  of  the  moun- 
tain, flashing  like  snow  as  the  moon  rose 
in  the  clear,  blue-black  sky. 

Kanana  did  not  pause  again  until  he  fell 
upon  his  knees  beside  the  stream  which 
rises  in  a  spring  upon  Mount  Hor,  to  die  in 
the  sand,  not  far  from  its  base.  He 
plunged  into  the  water ;  then,  dressing  him- 


34       THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

self  again,  lie  lay  down  upon  the  bank  to 
sleep.  He  awoke  with  the  first  gray  light- 
ing in  the  east,  when  the  air  of  a  desert  is 
almost  cold  enough  to  freeze. 

He  had  now  nothing  more  to  do  till  he 
could  obtain  some  information  from  pass- 
ing caravans.  It  would  soon  be  sunrise, 
the  hour  for  morning  prayer,  and,  to  warm 
himself  while  he  waited,  he  walked  along 
the  banks  of  the  stream.  They  were  blue 
as  the  very  sky,  with  masses  of  forget-me- 
nots. 

Suddenly  Kanana  paused.  He  started 
back.  His  eyes  dilated,  and  his  hand  trem- 
bled till  the  shepherd's  staff  fell,  unheeded, 
to  the  ground.  The  next  moment  he 
dropped  to  the  ground  to  examine  the  place 
more  carefully. 

What  was  it?  Only  some  marks  upon 
the  grass  where  a  caravan  had  camped. 
The  herbage  was  matted  here  and  there 
where  the  camels  lay,  and  cropped  short  in 
little  circles  about  each  spot  where  they 
had  eaten  it  as  far  as  they  could  reach. 


AT  THE  FOOT  OF  MOUNT  HOE     35 

Caravans  were  continually  resting  for 
the  day  under  the  shadow  of  Mount  Hor. 
There  was  nothing  remarkable  in  the  fact 
that  a  caravan  had  camped  there,  and  had 
gone.  They  always  move  at  night ;  not  so 
much  because  it  is  cooler  as  because  a 
camel  will  not  eat  at  night,  no  matter  how 
hungry  he  may  be,  and  must  be  given  the 
daylight  or  he  will  deliberately  starve. 

A  moment  later  Kanana  was  upon  his 
feet  again  with  a  triumph  in  his  eyes  which 
clearly  indicated  his  satisfaction. 

The  grass  about  the  spot  was  unevenly 
cropped;  there  were  straggling  spears  of 
green  left  standing  in  the  center  of  each 
mouthful  which  the  camel  had  taken. 
Upon  one  side  the  bees  were  clustering  on 
the  matted  grass.  A  multitude  of  ants  ap- 
peared upon  the  other  side.  The  imprint 
left  by  the  forefoot  of  the  camel  showed 
that  it  had  been  extended  in  front  of  him, 
instead  of  being  bent  at  the  knee  and  folded 
beneath  him. 

All  this  meant  to  the  young  Arab  that 


36       THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

the  camel  was  old,  that  it  was  lame  in  the 
left  knee,  that  it  had  lost  a  front  tooth,  that 
is  burden  on  one  side  was  honey,  on  the 
other  the  dust  of  river  clay,  to  be  used  in 
the  manufacture  of  stucco. 

Had  one  of  his  father's  camels  stood  be- 
fore him  Kanana  could  not  have  been  more 
sure.  Nothing  more  was  needed  to  assure 
him  that  Easchid  Airikat,  with  the  stolen 
camels,  had  left  Mount  Hor  the  night  be- 
fore, upon  the  trail  leading  southward  into 
Arabia. 

His  eyes  flashed  with  excitement.  "My 
brother  and  the  white  camel  are  not  ten 
hours  from  here,  and  they  are  on  the  road 
to  Mecca  or  Medina,"  he  exclaimed  as  his 
fingers  tightened  about  the  staff. 

His  white  teeth  glistened  in  a  smile,  as 
he  added,  ' '  They  are  mine,  or  I  am  a  cow- 
ard!" 

He  stood  there,  motionless,  for  a  mo- 
ment, his  dark  eyes  instinctively  turning 
southward.  The  magnitude  of  his  task  lay 
vividly  before  him.  He  recalled  his  fa- 


AT  THE  FOOT  OF  MOUNT  HOR     37 

ther's  words:  "Thou  wisp  of  flax  before 
a  fire!  Thou  reed  before  a  whirlwind!" 
They  served  to  strengthen  him. 

The  first  step  which  lay  before  him  was 
enough  to  test  the  courage  of  a  brave  man, 
and  yet  it  was  only  a  step  toward  a  grand 
destiny. 

Suddenly  starting  from  his  revery,  Ka- 
nana  exclaimed: 

"I  will  do  it!  or  I  will  consent  to  be 
known  forever  as  the  coward  of  the  Beni 
Sads!"  and  turning  he  ran  up  the  rocky 
sides  of  old  Mount  Hor,  toward  the  white 
tomb  of  Aaron,  whence  he  knew  he  could 
see  far  away  over  the  great  ocean  of  sand. 

It  might  be  there  would  yet  appear  a 
speck  upon  the  distant  horizon,  to  guide 
him  toward  the  retreating  caravan. 


IV 

THE  PKOMISE 

UP  the  steep  sides  of  Mount  Hor,  Ka- 
nana  climbed,  without  waiting  to 
look  for  a  path.  He  saw  nothing,  heard 
nothing.  He  was  all  eagerness  to  reach 
the  summit,  in  the  faint  hope  that  it  might 
not  be  too  late  to  see  the  departing  cara- 
van of  Easchid  Airikat. 

Unless  a  camel  is  fresh,  unusually  large 
and  strong,  or  constantly  urged,  it  rarely 
makes  more  than  two  miles  an  hour.  It 
was  not  over  ten  hours  since  the  robber 
sheik  had  left  the  oasis,  and  some  of  the 
camels  were  very  old  and  exhausted.  It 
was  a  foolish  hope,  no  doubt,  and  yet  Ka- 
nana  hoped  that  anything  so  large  as  a 
great  caravan  might  still  be  distinguish- 
able. 

Up,  up,  up  he  climbed — as  fast  as  hands 

38 


THE  PROMISE  39 

and  feet  could  carry  him.  He  no  longer 
felt  the  cool  air  of  early  morning.  He  no 
longer  looked  about  him  to  see  the  new 
sights  of  a  strange  oasis. 

He  did  not  even  pause  to  look  away  over 
the  desert  as  he  climbed.  The  highest 
point  was  none  too  high.  He  did  not  care 
how  far  he  could  see  until  he  had  gained 
the  white  tomb  of  Aaron,  upon  the  very 
crest. 

Had  he  not  been  too  thoroughly  occupied 
with  what  was  above  him  to  notice  what 
transpired  about  him  and  down  below,  he 
would  have  seen  five  Arab  horsemen  reach 
the  stream  by  which  he  slept,  almost  as  he 
began  to  climb. 

They  were  Mohammedan  soldiers,  thor- 
oughly armed  for  war,  and  had  evidently 
come  from  the  northern  borders  of  Arabia, 
where  the  victorious  Mussulmans  were  tri- 
umphantly planting  the  banner  of  Islam. 

They  had  been  riding  hard,  and  both 
men  and  horses  were  exhausted.  They 
hurried  to  the  water.  The  men  hastily  ate 


40       THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

some  food  which  they  carried,  and  tethered 
their  horses  in  Arab  fashion,  by  a  chain, 
one  end  of  which  is  fastened  about  the 
forefoot  of  the  animal  and  the  other  end 
about  the  master,  to  prevent  their  being 
stolen  while  the  master  sleeps. 

The  moment  this  was  accomplished,  the 
five  men  rolled  themselves  in  their  man- 
tles, covering  their  faces,  as  well  as  their 
bodies,  and  lay  down  upon  the  grass  to 
sleep. 

They  were  skilled  in  the  art  of  making 
long  journeys  in  the  shortest  possible  time, 
and  were  evidently  upon  important  busi- 
ness ;  for  an  Arab  is  never  in  haste  unless 
his  mission  is  very  important. 

Before  Kanana  reached  the  temple  the 
men  were  soundly  sleeping,  and  the  horses, 
lying  down  to  rest  themselves,  were  still 
eating  the  grass  about  them,  as  a  camel 
eats. 

Panting  for  breath,  and  trembling  in  his 
eager  haste,  Kanana  reached  the  tomb  of 
Aaron:  an  open  porch,  with  white  pillars 


THE  PROMISE  41 

supporting  a  roof  of  white,  like  a  crown  of 
eternal  snow  upon  the  summit  of  Mount 
Hor. 

Between  the  snowy  pillars  Kanana 
paused.  One  quick  glance  at  the  sky  gave 
him  the  points  of  the  compass,  and  shading 
his  eyes  from  the  glowing  east,  he  looked 
anxiously  to  the  south  and  west. 

Sand,  sand,  sand,  in  billows  like  great 
waves  of  an  ocean,  lay  about  him  in  every 
direction.  Far  away  there  were  low  hills, 
and  a  semblance  of  green  which,  to  his 
practiced  eye,  meant  a  grove  of  date  palms 
upon  the  banks  of  a  stream.  But  nowhere, 
search  as  he  would,  was  there  the  faintest 
speck  to  indicate  the  caravan. 

He  was  still  anxiously  scanning  those 
distant  hills  when  the  first  rays  of  the  ris- 
ing sun  shot  from  the  eastern  horizon, 
flashing  a  halo  of  glory  upon  the  snow- 
white  crown  of  old  Mount  Hor,  before  they 
touched  the  green  oasis  lying  about  its 
base. 

Never,  in  all  the  ages,  had  the  sun  come 


42      THE  LAN.CE  OF  KANANA 

up  out  of  the  Arabian  desert  to  see  such  a 
tableau  as  Ms  first  bright  beams  illumined 
Aaron's  tomb. 

All  absorbed  in  his  eager  search,  Kanana 
stood  upon  the  very  edge  of  the  white 
porch.  One  hand  was  extended,  grasping 
his  shepherd's  staff,  the  other  was  lifted  to 
shade  his  eyes. 

In  his  eagerness  to  reach  forward,  one 
foot  was  far  before  the  other,  and  the  knee 
was  bent,  as  though  he  were  ready  to  leap 
down  the  steep  declivity  before  him. 

His  turban,  a  large  square  piece  of  cloth, 
was  bound  about  his  head  with  a  camel 's- 
hair  cord;  one  corner  was  thrown  back 
over  his  forehead,  and  a  corner  fell 
over  each  shoulder,  like  a  cloak.  His  coat 
was  sheepskins  stitched  together.  Sum- 
mer and  winter,  rain  and  sunshine,  the 
Bedouin  shepherd  wears  that  sheepskin 
coat,  as  the  best  protection  against  both 
sun  and  frost. 

His  bare  feet  rested  firmly  upon  the 
white  platform,  and  the  arm  that  held  the 


THE  PROMISE  43 

shepherd's  staff  was  knotted  with  muscles 
which  a  strong  man  might  have  envied  him. 

His  beardless  face  was  dark,  but  not  so 
dark  as  to  hide  the  eager  flush  which 
heightened  the  color  in  his  cheeks,  and  his 
chest  rose  and  fell  in  deep,  quick  motions 
from  his  rapid  climb. 

His  lips  were  parted.  His  dark  eyes 
flashed,  while  the  hand  which  shaded  them 
stood  out  from  his  forehead  as  though  try- 
ing to  carry  the  sight  a  little  farther,  that 
it  might  pierce  the  defiles  of  those  distant 
hills  and  the  shadows  of  the  date  palm 
groves. 

The  sun  rose  higher,  and  its  full  light 
fell  across  the  young  Ishmaelite.  It  was 
the  signal  for  the  morning  call  to  prayer, 
and  from  the  minaret  of  every  mosque  in 
the  realm  of  Islam  was  sounding  La  Illaha 
il  Allah  Mahamoud  rousol  il  Allah.  Ka- 
nana  did  not  need  to  hear  the  call,  how- 
ever. He  instantly  forgot  his  mission, 
and,  a  humble  and  devout  Mohammedan, 
laid  aside  his  staff  and  reverently  faced 


44       THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

toward  Mecca  to  repeat  his  morning 
prayer. 

Standing  erect,  with  his  open  hands  be- 
side his  head,  the  palms  turned  forward, 
he  solemnly  began  the  Nummee  Allah  voul- 
hamda.  With  his  hands  crossed  upon  his 
breast  he  continued.  Then  he  placed  his 
hands  upon  his  knees,  then  sat  upon  the 
floor.  Then  with  his  open  hands  upon  the 
floor  he  touched  his  forehead  to  the  plat- 
form as  he  repeated  the  closing  words  of 
the  prayer. 

In  this  position  he  remained  for  some 
time,  whispering  a  petition  of  his  own  for 
strength  and  courage  to  carry  out  the  task 
which  he  had  undertaken. 

There  was  something  so  solemn  and  im- 
pressive in  the  death-like  stillness  of  the 
early  morning,  upon  that  solitary  peak, 
that  it  almost  seemed  to  Kanana  that,  if 
he  listened,  he  should  hear  the  voice  of  Al- 
lah, answering  his  prayer. 

Suddenly  the  silence  was  broken  by  a 
sharp  cry,  and  another  and  another  in 


THE  PROMISE  45 

quick  succession  mingled  with  savage  yells. 

It  was  not  the  voice  of  Allah,  for  which 
he  had  been  waiting,  and  Kanana  sprang 
to  his  feet  and  looked  anxiously  about 
him. 

The  mountains  of  Arabia  are  not  high. 
Among  real  mountains,  Mount  Hor  would 
be  but  a  rocky  hill.  Looking  down,  for  the 
first  time,  Kanana  saw  the  stream  below 
him,  in  its  border  of  blue  forget-me-nots, 
and  could  clearly  distinguish  the  five  sol- 
diers who  had  so  quickly  fallen  asleep  upon 
its  banks. 

It  was  a  fearful  sight  which  met  his  eyes. 
The  five  men  were  still  lying  there,  but  they 
were  no  longer  sleeping.  They  were  dead 
or  dying ;  slain  by  three  Bedouin  robbers, 
who  had  crept  upon  them  for  the  valuable 
prize  of  their  horses,  and  who  did  not  dare 
attempt  to  steal  the  animals  while  the  mas- 
ters were  alive. 

It  was  almost  the  first  time  that  Ka- 
nana's  eyes  had  rested  upon  a  scene  of 
blood,  common  as  such  scenes  are  among 


46       THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

his  countrymen,  and  he  stood  in  the  porch 
benumbed  with  horror,  while  the  robbers 
tore  from  the  bodies  about  them  such  gar- 
ments as  pleased  them;  then  took  their 
weapons,  mounted  three  of  the  horses,  and 
leading  two  rode  quickly  away  to  the  north. 

There  was  no  assistance  which  Kanana 
could  render  the  unfortunate  men.  The 
caravan  was  already  a  night's  march  ahead 
of  him  and  every  moment  that  he  lost  must 
be  redeemed  by  hurrying  so  much  the 
faster  under  the  burning  sun,  over  the 
scorching  sand,  when,  at  the  best,  it  was 
doubtful  if  flesh  and  blood  could  stand  what 
must  be  required  of  it. 

With  a  shudder  he  turned  from  the  terri- 
ble scene  and  began  to  descend  the  moun- 
tain. Soon  he  was  upon  the  banks  of  the 
stream  and  passing  close  to  the  spot  where 
the  five  bodies  were  lying.  He  would  not 
run,  but  he  hurried  on,  with  his  eyes  fixed 
upon  the  ground  before  him. 

A  faint  sound  caught  his  ear.  He 
started,  clutched  his  staff,  and  turned 


THE  PKOMISE  47 

sharply  about,  thinking  that  the  robbers 
had  seen  him  and  returned.  It  was  only 
one  of  the  unfortunate  soldiers  who  had 
been  left  for  dead.  He  had  raised  himself 
upon  his  elbow,  and  was  trying  to  attract 
Kanana's  attention. 

' t  Water !  water !  In  the  name  of  Allah, 
give  me  water!"  he  gasped,  and  fell  back 
unconscious. 

For  a  moment  Kanana  was  tempted  to 
hurry  on.  He  did  not  want  to  go  there, 
any  more  than  he  wanted  to  delay  his  jour- 
ney; but  something  whispered  to  him  of 
the  promises  of  the  Koran  to  those  who 
show  mercy  to  the  suffering;  that  Allah 
would  reward  even  a  cup  of  water  given  to 
the  thirsty. 

It  required  no  little  courage  of  the  Bed- 
ouin boy,  all  alone  under  Mount  Hor,  but  he 
resolutely  turned  back,  filled  with  water  the 
wooden  cup  which  a  shepherd  always  car- 
ries at  his  girdle,  and  poured  it  down  the 
parched  throat  of  the  almost  insensible 
man. 


48       THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

4 'Bless  God  for  water !"  he  gasped 
"More!  give  me  more!" 

Kanana  ran  to  the  brook  and  filled  the 
cup  again,  but  the  poor  man  shook  his  head. 
It  was  too  late.  He  was  dying. 

Suddenly  he  roused  himself.  He  made 
a  desperate  struggle  to  call  back  his  failing 
senses,  and,  for  a  moment,  threw  off  the 
hand  of  Death. 

He  had  almost  given  up,  forgetting 
something  of  great  importance.  Steady- 
ing himself  upon  his  elbow,  he  looked  into 
Xanana's  face  and  said: 

"You  are  a  beardless  youth,  but  you 
are  an  Arab.  Listen  to  me.  The  mighty 
Prince  Constantine,  son  of  the  Emperor 
Heraclius,  is  soon  to  leave  Constantinople, 
at  the  head  of  a  vast  army  of  Turks  and 
Greeks  and  Eomans,  like  the  leaves  of  the 
forest  and  the  sand  of  the  desert.  He  i» 
coming  to  sweep  the  Arab  from  the  face  of 
the  earth  and  the  light  of  the  sun.  We 
were  bearing  a  letter  to  the  Caliph  Omar, 
who  is  now  at  Mecca,  telling  him  of  the 


THE  PROMISE  49 

danger  and  asking  help.  If  the  letter  does 
rot  reach  him  Arabia  is  lost  and  the  Faith- 
"ul  are  destroyed.  Would  you  see  that 
happen?" 

Too  frightened  to  speak  and  hardly  com- 
prehending the  situation,  Kanana  simply 
shook  his  head. 

The  man  made  another  effort  to  over- 
come the  stupor  that  had  almost  mastered 
him.  He  succeeded  in  taking  from  his 
clothing  a  letter,  sealed  with  the  great  seal, 
and  gasped: 

"In  the  name  of  Allah,  will  you  fly  with 
this  to  the  great  caliph? " 

Hardly  realizing  what  he  said,  Kanana 
solemnly  repeated:  "In  the  name  of  Allah, 
I  will." 

He  took  the  letter  and  was  hiding  it  in 
his  bosom  when  the  soldier  grasped  the 
cup  of  water,  drank  ravenously,  and,  with 
the  last  swallow,  let  the  cup  fall  from  life- 
less fingers. 

Minute  after  minute  passed,  but  Kanana 
did  not  move  a  muscle.  His  hand  still 


50       THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

touched  the  letter  which  he  had  placed  in 
his  bosom.  His  eyes  still  rested  upon  the 
lips  that  would  never  speak  again. 

His  sacred  promise  had  been  pledged  to 
fly  with  that  letter  to  the  great  caliph  at 
Mecca.  It  had  been  made  in  the  name  of 
Allah.  It  had  been  given  to  the  man  now 
lying  dead  before  him.  There  was  no 
power  that  could  retract  it.  It  must  be 
performed,  and  until  it  was  performed  no 
other  consideration  could  retard  his  steps 
or  occupy  his  thoughts. 

His  lips  parted  and  he  muttered,  angrily : 
"Is  this  my  reward  for  having  given  a  cup 
of  water  to  the  thirsty!"  Then  it  sud- 
denly occurred  to  him  that  the  caravan 
which  he  longed  most  of  all  to  follow  was 
also  upon  its  way  southward,  and  that,  for 
the  present  at  least,  for  either  mission  the 
direction  was  the  same,  and  the  demand 
for  haste  was  great. 

He  caught  his  staff  from  the  ground  and 
set  his  face  toward  Mecca,  pondering  upon 
the  dying  statement  of  the  soldier  till  word 


THE  PROMISE  51 

for  word  it  was  fastened  in  his  memory, 
and  the  thought  that  his  mission  was  for 
Allah  and  Arabia  urged  him  on. 

It  was  an  easy  task  to  follow  the  trail 
of  the  caravan.  The  Bedouin  would  be  a 
disgrace  to  the  desert  who  could  not  recog- 
nize in  the  sand  the  recent  footprint  of  one 
of  his  own  tribe  or  of  a  camel  with  which 
he  was  familiar,  and  who  could  not  tell  by 
a  footprint  whether  the  man  or  camel  who 
made  it  carried  a  burden,  often  what  that 
burden  was,  always  whether  he  was  fresh 
or  exhausted,  walking  leisurely  or  hurry- 
ing. 

So  Kanana  hurried  on,  daily  reading 
the  news  of  the  caravan  before  him  as  he 
went,  testing  his  strength  to  the  utmost 
before  he  rested,  and  starting  again  as  soon 
as  he  was  able ;  over  the  sand  and  over  the 
hills,  through  groves  and  villages  and  over 
sand  again ;  always  toward  Mecca. 


LED  BY  A  WHITE  CAMEL 

IN  the  world-famous  city  of  Mecca,  two 
men  stood  by  the  arch  that  leads  to  the 
immortal  Caaba. 

They  were  engaged  in  an  earnest  con- 
versation, heedless  of  everything  about 
them,  when  the  distant  cry  of  a  camel  driver 
sounded  on  the  still  air. 

Both  of  the  men  started  and  looked  at 
each  other  in  surprise.  One  of  them  said : 

"A  caravan  at  the  gate  at  this  time  of 
day!"  for  it  was  several  hours  past  mid- 
day and  a  caravan,  in  the  ordinary  course 
of  things,  reaches  a  city  gate  during  the 
night  or  very  early  in  the  morning. 

Arabia  was  seeing  troubled  times,  and 
every  one  was  on  the  alert  for  anything  out 
of  the  accepted  rule. 


LED  BY  A  WHITE  CAMEL       53 

The  camel-driver's  cry  was  repeated. 
The  first  speaker  remarked: 

"They  have  left  the  burdened  camels  at 
the  Moabede  gate  and  are  entering  the 
city." 

With  an  anxious  look  upon  his  face  the 
elder  of  the  two  replied,  "Either  they 
have  been  hard  pressed  by  an  enemy  or  it 
is  important  news  which  brings  them  over 
the  desert  in  such  haste,  in  this  insuffer- 
able heat." 

The  two  men  were  evidently  of  great  im- 
portance in  the  holy  city.  They  were  sur- 
rounded by  powerful  black  slaves,  who  had 
all  that  they  could  do  to  keep  the  passers-by 
from  pressing  too  close  upon  the  elder  man, 
in  a  desire  to  touch  the  hem  of  his  garment. 
Many,  in  passing,  knelt  and  touched  their 
foreheads  to  the  ground.  Thus  they 
waited  the  coming  caravan. 

The  first  camel  of  an  important  caravan 
is  led  by  a  man  who  walks  before  it,  through 
the  narrow  streets  of  a  city,  and  his  cry 
is  to  warn  the  crowd  to  clear  the  way; 


54:      THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

there  being  no  sidewalks,  and,  indeed,  but 
very  little  street. 

"There  it  comes,'*  said  the  younger  of 
the  two,  as  the  long  line  of  drowsy  camels 
appeared,  swinging,  swinging,  swinging 
along  the  narrow  street. 

"Led  by  a  white  camel,"  added  the  elder, 
and  they  both  looked  down  the  street. 

The  lead-camel  was  larger  than  the  rest 
— much  larger,  and  very  much  lighter  col- 
ored; a  sort  of  dingy  white,  like  a  sheep 
before  shearing.  The  chief  of  the  caravan 
sat  upon  his  back,  as  unmindful  of  every- 
thing as  though  he  were  still  upon  the 
trackless  sand. 

It  is  not  impossible  that  the  sheik  was 
really  sleeping,  and  unconsciously  grasping 
his  ugly  lance,  while  his  Damascus  blade 
hung  ready  by  his  side. 

He  roused  in  a  moment,  however,  for 
with  many  a  grunt  and  groan  the  great, 
ungainly,  and  yet  very  stately,  ships  of  the 
desert  came  slowly  and  drowsily  to  anchor 
in  the  court  before  the  Caaba. 


LED  BY  A  WHITE  CAMEL       55 

"Haji,"  a  naked  little  urchin  muttered, 
looking  up  from  his  play;  but  he  should 
have  known  better.  Haji  means  pilgrims, 
and  these  were  no  pilgrims. 

There  are  seasons  when  this  city  is  one 
mass  of  humanity.  Haji  by  hundreds  and 
thousands  throng  the  narrow  streets,  but 
these  are  Bedouins  of  the  desert,  bound 
upon  some  other  mission  than  worshiping 
before  the  Caaba,  kissing  the  Black  Stone, 
or  drinking  the  holy  water  of  Zemzem. 

The  leader  of  the  white  camel  gave  a 
peculiar  pull  to  the  rope  hanging  over  his 
shoulder,  attached  to  the  animal's  bridle, 
and  uttered  a  short,  sharp  word  of  com- 
mand. 

Slowly,  very  slowly,  the  dignified,  dingy 
creature,  towering  high  above  him,  ac- 
knowledged the  receipt  of  the  order,  but  he 
gave  no  evidence  that  he  was  making  any 
arrangements  to  obey. 

His  response  was  simply  a  deliberate 
grunt  and  a  weird  and  melancholy  wail  that 
came  gurgling  out  of  his  long,  twisting 


56       THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

throat.  He  would  not  have  hurried  him- 
self one  atom,  even  for  the  sheik  upon  his 
back. 

A  white  camel  is  to  the  Arab  what  a 
white  buffalo  is  to  the  Indian  and  a  white 
elephant  to  the  Ceylonese,  and  he  fully  ap- 
preciates his  importance. 

He  deliberately  turned  his  woolly  head 
quite  about  till  his  great  brown  eyes,  with 
the  drooping  lids  almost  closed  over  them, 
could  most  conveniently  look  back  along 
the  line  of  lank,  inferior  camels,  and  gaunt 
and  weather-beaten  dromedaries,  which 
had  patiently  followed  him,  day  after  day, 
to  the  temple  court  of  immortal  Mecca. 

He  was  so  long  about  it  that  the  leader 
repeated  the  command  and  very  slowly  the 
camel  brought  his  head  back  again,  till  his 
languid  eyes  looked  drowsily  down,  in  a 
sort  of  scornful  charity,  upon  the  insignifi- 
cant mortal  at  the  other  end  of  his 
halter. 

He  had  stood  in  the  court  of  Mecca  long 
before  that  man  was  born  and  would  doubt- 


LED  BY  A  WHITE  CAMEL       57 

less  guide  caravans  to  the  same  spot  long 
after  he  was  buried  and  forgotten. 

"You  may  be  in  haste,  but  I  am  not,"  he 
seemed  to  say,  and  dreamily  turned  his  eyes 
toward  the  black-curtained  Caaba,  as  if  to 
see  how  it  had  fared  since  his  last  visit. 

That  Caaba,  the  Holy  of  Holies  of  the 
Mussulman,  is  the  most  revered  and  pos- 
sibly the  most  venerable  of  all  the  sacred 
buildings  on  the  earth;  but  the  gentle,  wist- 
ful eyes  of  the  white  camel  were  more  prac- 
tically drawn  toward  two  or  three  date- 
palm-trees  then  growing  beside  it.  When 
he  had  satisfied  himself  that  the  only  green 
thing  in  sight  was  quite  beyond  his  reach, 
he  deliberately  lowered  his  head,  changed 
his  position  a  little,  and  with  another  grunt 
and  another  melancholy  wail  sank  upon  his 
knees,  then  upon  his  haunches.  With  a 
deep  sigh  he  lifted  his  head  again  still  high 
above  the  head  of  his  driver,  and  his  drowsy 
eyes  seemed  saying  to  him: 

"Poor  man!    I  kept  you  waiting,  didn't 


58      THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

Then  he  quickly  turned  his  head  to  the 
opposite  side,  deliberately  poking  his  nose 
into  the  passing  throng,  till,  with  a  grunt 
of  recognition,  it  touched  the  garment  of 
one  who  was  hurrying  on  among  the  crowd. 

It  was  evidently  a  Bedouin,  but  the  wings 
of  his  turban  were  drawn  together  in  front, 
so  that  no  one  could  see  his  face.  He  re- 
sponded to  the  greeting  of  the  white  camel, 
however,  by  laying  his  hand  upon  the  crea- 
ture's nose  as  he  passed.  It  was  a  motion 
which  no  one  noticed,  and  a  moment  later 
he  was  out  of  sight. 

He  was  following  a  boy  who  had  led  him 
directly  to  the  arch,  where  the  boy  paused, 
pointed  to  the  elder  of  the  two  men  stand- 
ing there,  briefly  observing : 

"It  is  he." 

The  Bedouin  paused  for  a  moment,  as  if 
struggling  to  collect  his  thoughts,  then 
hurrying  forward  was  the  next  to  prostrate 
himself  before  the  venerable  man.  As  he 
rose  he  handed  him  a  package,  simply  ob- 
serving : 


LED  BY  A  WHITE  CAMEL       59 

"A  message  to  the  Caliph  Omar." 

The  great  caliph  quickly  broke  the  seal 
and  read ;  then,  turning  to  the  bearer,  asked 
sharply,  "And  who  art  thou?" 

"I  am  Kanana,  son  of  the  sheik  of  the 
Beni  Sads,"  replied  the  Bedouin  boy,  let- 
ting the  wings  of  his  turban  fall  apart  that 
Omar  might  see  his  face. 

"A  beardless  youth !"  exclaimed  the 
caliph.  < '  And  dost  thou  know  aught  of  the 
import  of  this  letter  I" 

Kanana  repeated  the  dying  words  of  the 
Arab  soldier,  which  had  so  often  escaped 
his  lips  as  he  urged  his  weary  feet  toward 
Mecca. 

"'Tis  even  so,"  replied  the  caliph. 
"And  how  came  living  man  to  trust  a  boy 
like  you  to  come  alone,  through  the  streets 
of  Mecca,  with  such  an  errand?" 

"I  came  alone  with  the  letter  from  the 
oasis  at  Mount  Hor,"  replied  Kanana, 
straightening  himself  up,  with  very  pardon- 
able pride,  before  the  astonished  eyes  of 
the  great  caliph. 


60      THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

Then  lie  related,  briefly,  how  the  letter 
came  into  his  keeping,  and  the  dangers  and 
escapes  of  the  three  long  weeks  during 
which  he  carried  it  in  his  bosom ;  each  ris- 
ing and  setting  sun  finding  it  a  little  nearer 
to  its  destination. 

"Thou  art  a  brave  youth/'  said  the 
caliph,  "a  worthy  son  of  the  Terror  of  the 
Desert.  Would  to  Allah  that  every  Arab 
had  thy  heart,  and  Heraclius  himself,  with 
all  the  world  behind  him,  could  not  move 
the  Faithful  from  their  desert  sands.  And 
they  shall  not  be  moved!  No!  By  the 
beard  of  the  Prophet,  they  shall  not  be 
moved.  Hear  me,  my  son ;  I  will  see  more 
of  thee.  This  is  no  place  for  conversation, 
where  the  wind  bloweth  into  what  ears  it 
listeth.  One  of  my  slaves  shall  conduct 
you  to  my  house.  There  I  will  meet  you 
presently.  Go,  and  Allah  go  with  you. ' ' 

Indicating  the  slave  who  should  take  Ka- 
nana  in  charge,  the  Caliph  Omar  turned  ab- 
ruptly away  and  showed  the  letter  to  the 
man  with  whom  he  had  been  conversing. 


VI 

KANANA  AND   THE   CALIPH 

GUIDED  by  the  black  slave,  Kanana 
passed  out  again  under  the  arch,  and 
walked  the  streets  of  Mecca,  caring  less  and 
thinking  less  concerning  what  transpired 
about  him  than  any  one,  before  or  since, 
who  for  the  first  time  stood  in  the  holy 
city. 

He  found  the  narrow  streets  densely 
crowded.  Soldiers  and  merchants,  Bedou- 
ins and  city  Arabs  mingled  with  an  array 
of  every  tribe  Arabia  could  furnish.  There 
were  venders  of  all  things  pertaining  to  the 
necessities  or  luxuries  of  life;  water-car- 
riers with  goatskins  on  their  shoulders; 
fruit-criers  with  wooden  trays  upon  their 
heads;  donkeys  laden  with  cumbersome 
baskets,  beneath  which  they  were  almost 
lost  to  sight;  camels  carrying  packs  of  a 

61 


62       THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

thousand  pounds  weight  upon  their  backs, 
as  though  they  were  bundles  of  feathers; 
everything  hustling  and  jostling,  men  and 
boys  shouting  and  pushing  for  the  right  of 
way. 

They  all  turned  out  as  best  they  could, 
however,  for  the  savage  black  slave  of  the 
great  caliph,  and  by  keeping  close  behind 
him  Kanana  always  found  an  open  space 
where  he  could  walk  without  fighting  for 
room. 

It  was  almost  the  first  experience  of  the 
Bedouin  boy  in  real  city  life,  and  the  very 
first  time  that  his  bare  feet  had  ever 
touched  the  beaten  sand  of  the  unpaved 
streets  of  his  most  sacred  Mecca. 

He  turned  from  the  arch,  however,  with- 
out once  glancing  at  the  black-curtained 
Caaba,  the  Beitullah,  or  House  of  God,  to- 
ward which  three  times  a  day  he  had  turned 
his  face  in  reverent  devotion,  ever  since  he 
had  learned  to  pray. 

He  followed  the  black  slave  onward 
through  the  streets,  without  so  much  as 


KANANA  AND  THE  CALIPH      63 

looking  at  the  walls  of  the  houses  that 
crowded  close  on  either  hand. 

He  had  fulfilled  his  vow.  The  packet  he 
had  sacredly  guarded  through  many  a 
hardship  and  danger  and  narrow  escape 
was  safely  delivered.  Now  he  was  free  to 
carry  on  the  work  for  which  he  left  the 
perch  and  the  birds  in  the  grain-field  of  the 
Beni  Sad. 

Sometimes  he  thought  of  the  black  slave 
before  him,  and  wondered  if,  after  all,  he 
was  quite  free.  And  the  thought  troubled 
him. 

It  seemed  as  though  long  years  had 
passed  since  the  day  when  his  father  met 
him  with  the  news  of  Easchid  Airikat's 
capture  of  his  brother.  He  had  suffered 
privations  enough  for  a  lifetime  since  then. 
More  than  once  his  life  had  hung  by  a 
slender  thread.  He  could  hardly  imagine 
himself  again  sitting  up  on  the  perch, 
frightening  the  birds  away,  his  life  had  so 
entirely  changed ;  his  determination  to  keep 
the  vow  he  made  his  father  had  grown 


64       THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

stronger  every  day;  only  lie  realized  more 
the  magnitude  of  the  task  he  had  under- 
taken; and  he  appreciated  his  father's 
words : '  '  Thou  wisp  of  straw  before  a  fire  1 
Thou  reed  before  a  whirlwind !"  Still  he 
gathered  hope,  because  he  was  beginning 
to  understand  himself. 

The  dangers  and  hardships  of  one  enter- 
prise he  had  met  and  overcome,  and  under 
the  very  shadow  of  the  Caaba,  the  great 
caliph  of  Mecca  had  called  him  brave. 

Now  he  was  eager  for  the  next.  There 
was  no  vital  need  of  another  interview  with 
the  caliph,  and  Kanana  thought  that  if  he 
could  only  escape  from  the  black  slave,  by 
darting  into  a  crowded  alley,  he  could  go 
at  once  about  his  own  important  business. 

For  the  first  time  Kanana  looked  about 
him.  At  the  moment  there  was  no  oppor- 
tunity, and  while  he  watched  for  one,  the 
slave  turned  suddenly  into  a  great  gate, 
crossed  a  court  paved  with  limestone,  lifted 
a  reed  curtain,  entered  one  of  the  most  sub- 
stantial stone  structures  of  Mecca,  and  in- 


KANANA  AND  THE  CALIPH      65 

dicated  to  Kanana  the  apartment  in  which 
he  was  to  wait  for  the  caliph.  It  was  too 
late  to  escape.  With  all  the  patience  and 
dogged  submission  to  destiny  so  strongly 
developed  in  the  Bedouin,  Kanana  sat  down 
upon  a  rug.  There  were  luxurious  otto- 
mans about  the  room,  and  divans  taken 
from  the  palaces  of  Persian  princes,  but 
the  Bedouin  boy  preferred  the  desert  seat. 
Much  as  though  he  were  still  upon  the 
perch,  he  laid  his  staff  beside  him  and 
buried  his  face  in  his  hands.  The  magnifi- 
cence in  this  chamber  of  Omar's  official  resi- 
dence only  disturbed  his  thoughts. 

He  became  so  deeply  buried  in  his  plans 
that  he  had  entirely  forgotten  where  he 
was,  when  the  rattle  of  the  reed  curtain 
roused  him  and,  starting  from  his  dream, 
he  found  the  great  caliph  entering. 

Eeverently  touching  his  forehead  to  the 
floor,  Kanana  remained  prostrate  until  the 
caliph  was  seated.  Then  he  rose  and  stood 
leaning  upon  his  staff  while  the  old  ruler 
silently  surveyed  him.  It  seemed  to  Ka- 


66       THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

nana  that  his  very  heart  was  being  searched 
by  those  grave  and  piercing  eyes. 

Upon  the  shoulders  of  the  Caliph  Omar 
rested  the  fate  of  Islam  for  future  ages; 
his  word  was  law  wherever  Mohammed 
was  revered.  He  could  have  little  time  to 
waste  upon  a  shepherd  boy ;  yet  he  sat  for 
a  long  while,  silently  looking  at  Kanana. 
When  he  spoke,  it  was  only  to  bid  him  re- 
peat, at  greater  length,  the  story  of  how  he 
came  by  the  letter  and  how  he  brought  it 
to  Mecca. 

"My  son,"  he  said,  when  Kanana  had 
finished,  "thou  hast  done  what  many  a' 
brave  man  would  not  have  ventured  to  at- 
tempt. Ask  what  reward  thou  wilt  of  me. ' ' 

"I  would  have  the  blessing  of  the  Caliph 
Omar,"  Kanana  replied. 

"That  thou  shall  have,  my  son;  and 
camels,  or  sheep,  or  gold.  Ask  what  thou 
wilt." 

"I  have  no  use  for  anything.  I  ask  thy 
blessing,  my  father,  and  thy  word  to  bid  me 
go." 


KANANA  AND  THE  CALIPH      67 

"Thou  art  a  strange  lad,"  replied  the 
caliph.  "Thou  art  like,  and  yet  unlike  the 
Terror  of  the  Desert.  I  command  thee, 
my  son,  say  what  I  can  best  do  for  thee." 

"Give  me  thy  blessing,  then  let  me  go, 
my  father,"  repeated  Kanana,  kneeling. 
"More  than  that,  if  I  took  it,  I  should  leave 
at  thy  gate. ' ' 

Omar  smiled  gravely  at  the  boy's  ob- 
stinacy. 

"If  I  can  do  nothing  for  thee,  there  is 
yet  something  which  thou  canst  do  for  me. 
Kahled  is  the  greatest  general  who  fights 
for  the  Prophet.  He  will  soon  reach 
Bashra,  with  thirty  thousand  warriors. 
He  will  turn  to  enter  Persia,  but  these  let- 
ters must  reach  him,  with  my  orders  that 
he  go  again  to  Syria.  Bashra  is  three 
weeks  from  here,  and  a  company  of  sol- 
diers will  start  to-night  to  carry  the  mes- 
sages, while  I  send  far  and  wide  for  the 
Faithful  to  join  him.  It  would  be  well,  my 
son,  for  thee  to  go  with  the  soldiers,  to  give 
the  story  to  Kahled  by  word  of  mouth." 


68      THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

"The  way  is  hard.  The  sand  is  deep 
and  dry  between  Mecca  and  Bashra,"  said 
Kanana.  The  caliph  looked  in  some  sur- 
prise upon  the  hardy  Bedouin  boy. 

"Hardship  should  not  be  hard  to  thee; 
but  thou  shall  be  carried  as  one  whom  the 
caliph  would  honor." 

"The  way  is  dangerous.  Bobbers  and 
hostile  tribes  are  like  the  sand  about  Ba- 
shra, "  added  Kanana,  who  had  often  heard 
of  the  countries  along  the  eastern  borders 
of  Arabia. 

Surprise  became  astonishment.  The 
caliph  exclaimed : 

"Thou!  son  of  the  Terror  of  the  Desert, 
speaking  of  danger?" 

"My  father,  I  spoke  for  thy  soldiers," 
replied  Kanana,  quickly.  "Before  they 
reach  the  sands  of  Bashra  they  will  be  with 
the  five  who  started  with  this  letter.  Dost 
thou  believe  that  Kanana  spoke  in  fear  or 
cowardice?  If  so,  give  him  the  letters,  and 
with  thy  blessing  and  the  help  of  Allah,  he 
will  deliver  them  to  thy  Kahled,  though 


KANANA  AND  THE  CALIPH      69 

every  river  run  with  fire,  and  the  half  of 
Arabia  stand  to  prevent  him!" 

" Beardless  youth!"  cried  the  caliph. 
"I  am  too  old  for  mockery." 

"My  father,  without  a  beard  I  brought 
that  letter  here,  and  He  who  guarded  me 
will  guard  me  still." 

"Wouldst  thou  dare  to  go  without  an 
escort?" 

"I  would  rather  have  a  sword  I  could 
not  lift  than  have  an  escort,"  replied  Ka- 
nana. 

"By  the  beard  of  the  Prophet,  my  son, 
there  is  both  foolishness  and  wisdom  in 
thy  words.  Thou  shall  take  the  messages 
by  one  route,  and  by  another  I  will  send 
the  soldiers  with  copies.  It  may  be  that 
Allah  guides  thy  tongue.  When  wilt  thou 
start!" 

"Now,"  replied  Kanana. 

"That  was  well  spoken,"  said  the  caliph. 
"What  camels  and  servants  shall  be  pro- 
vided?" 

"My  father,"  said  Kanana,  "as  I  came 


70       THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

a  little  way  with  the  caravan  which  arrived 
to-day,  I  noted  the  white  camel  that  took 
the  lead.  I  never  saw  so  great  power  of 
speed  and  endurance  in  a  camel  of  the  plain. 
The  man  who  led  him  knew  him  well  and 
was  easily  obeyed.  I  would  have  the  two, 
none  other,  and  the  swiftest  dromedary  in 
Mecca,  with  grain  for  fourteen  days." 

The  caliph  shook  his  head:  "It  will  be 
twenty  days  and  more/' 

"My  father,  the  burden  must  be  light 
that  the  sand  lie  loose  beneath  their  feet, 
and  small,  that  it  tempt  no  envious  eye." 
Then,  in  the  direct  simplicity  resulting 
from  his  lonely  life,  Kanana  added,  "If 
it  is  a  three  weeks'  journey  for  others,  in 
fourteen  days  thy  messages  shall  be  de- 
livered." 

The  caliph  summoned  an  officer,  saying, 
"Go  to  the  caravan  at  the  Moabede  Gate. 
Say  that  Omar  requires  the  white  camel 
and  the  man  who  leads  it ;  none  other.  Bid 
Ebnol  Hassan  prepare  my  black  drome- 
dary and  food  for  the  two  for  fourteen 


KANANA  AND  THE  CALIPH      71 

days.  Have  everything  at  the  gate,  ready 
to  start,  in  half  an  hour/'  Then  to  a 
slave,  he  added,  "Give  to  the  son  of  the 
Terror  of  the  Desert  the  best  that  the 
house  affords  to  eat  and  drink." 

Without  another  word  the  caliph  left  the 
room  to  prepare  the  messages.  The  slave 
hurried  to  produce  a  sumptuous  feast. 
The  officer  left  the  house  to  execute  the 
orders  of  the  man  whose  word  was  law. 

Alone,  Kanana  sat  down  again  upon  the 
mat  and  buried  his  face  in  his  hands,  as 
though  he  were  quietly  preparing  himself 
to  sleep. 

Only  a  whisper  escaped  his  lips.  The 
words  were  the  same  which  he  had  angrily 
spoken  under  the  shadow  of  Mount  Hor, 
but  the  voice  was  very  different:  "This  is 
my  great  reward  for  giving  a  cup  of  water 
to  the  thirsty.  La  Illaha  il  Allah!"  The 
slave  placed  the  food  beside  him,  but  he 
did  not  notice  it  Not  until  the  caliph  en- 
tered again  did  he  suddenly  look  up,  ex- 
claiming, "This  shepherd's  coat  would 


72       THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

not  be  fitting  the  dignity  of  the  white 
camel.  I  must  have  an  abbe  to  cover  it, 
and  a  mantle  to  cover  my  face,  that  Mecca 
may  not  see  a  beardless  youth  going  upon 
a  mission  for  the  great  caliph.'' 

They  were  quickly  provided.  The  camel 
and  its  driver  were  at  the  gate,  with  the 
black  dromedary.  All  was  ready,  and  with 
the  mantle  drawn  over  his  beardless  face, 
and  the  abbe  covering  his  sheepskin  coat, 
Kanana  knelt  and  received  the  blessing  of 
the  Caliph  Omar. 

As  he  rose  from  his  knees,  the  caliph 
handed  him,  first  the  letters,  which  Kanana 
placed  in  his  bosom,  and  next  a  bag  of  gold 
which  Kanana  held  in  his  hand  for  an  in- 
stant; then,  scornfully,  he  threw  it  upon 
the  mat,  remarking,  "My  father,  I  have 
already  received  a  richer  reward  than  all 
the  gold  of  Mecca." 

The  caliph  only  smiled:  "Let  each  one 
dance  according  to  the  music  which  he 
hears.  My  son,  I  see  the  future  opening 
before  thee.  This  is  not  thy  last  mission. 


KANANA  AND  THE  CALIPH     73 

I  read  it  in  thy  destiny  that  thou  wilt  suc- 
ceed, and  succeed  again,  until  the  name  of 
Kanana  be  written  among  the  greatest  of 
those  who  have  lift  ad  the  lance  for  Allah 
and  Arabia.  Go  now,  and  God  go  with 
thee." 


VII 

A  PRIZE  WORTH  WINKING 

THERE  was  a  group  of  several  people 
standing  about  the  caliph's  gate  as 
Kanana  emerged.  They  were  apparently 
waiting,  in  careless  curiosity,  to  see  the 
white  camel  start,  and  learn  what  they 
could  of  what  was  going  on  in  official  de- 
partments. 

The  information  they  received  was  very 
meager,  yet  it  proved  sufficient  for  more 
than  one.  They  saw  the  white  camel  rise, 
with  the  veiled  messenger  of  Omar  upon 
its  back.  As  the  driver  looked  up  to  re- 
ceive his  first  command  their  necks  were 
bent  in  a  way  that  betrayed  their  eagerness 
to  hear.  Only  one  word  was  spoken,  how- 
ever. It  was  "Tayf,"  the  name  of  a  city 
a  short  distance  to  the  east  of  Mecca. 

74 


A  PRIZE  WORTH  WINNING     75 

The  camel-driver's  cry  sounded  again 
through  the  streets,  but  the  twilight 
shadows  were  gathering.  There  were  few 
abroad,  and  the  cries  were  not  so  loud  or 
so  often  repeated  as  in  the  afternoon. 
When  they  ceased  altogether,  Kanana  had 
turned  his  back  upon  Mecca  forever. 

The  night  wind  blew  cool  and  refreshing 
from  the  surrounding  hills  as  the  little 
caravan  moved  out  upon  the  plain,  but  Ka- 
nana was  ill  at  ease. 

It  was  still  as  death  in  the  valley.  Far 
as  the  eye  could  penetrate  the  darkness 
they  were  all  alone,  except  for  five  horse- 
men who  left  the  gate  of  Mecca  not  long 
after  the  white  camel,  and  were  now  rid- 
ing slowly  toward  Tayf,  a  short  distance 
behind  it. 

Ever  and  again  Kanana  looked  back  at 
them.  The  faint  shadows,  silently  moving 
onward  through  the  gloom,  were  always 
there ;  never  nearer ;  never  out  of  sight. 

Leaning  forward,  he  spoke  in  a  low  voice 
to  the  driver,  "You  walk  as  though  you 


76       THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

were  weary.  The  dromedary  was  brought 
for  you.  Mount  it,  and  follow  me," 

"Master,"  replied  the  driver,  "the  white 
camel  is  obstinate.  He  will  only  move  for 
one  whom  he  knows  well. ' ' 

"You  speak  to  the  wind,"  muttered  Ka- 
nana.  ' '  Do  as  I  bid  thee.  Hear  my  words. 
Yonder  black  dromedary  has  the  fleetest 
foot  in  Mecca,  He  is  the  pride  of  the 
Caliph  Omar.  Mount  him,  and  if  you  can 
overtake  me  while  I  drive  the  white  camel, 
you  shall  throw  the  dust  of  the  desert  in 
the  face  of  Baschid  Airikat,  and  have  the 
white  camel  for  your  own." 

The  driver  started  back,  and  stood  star- 
ing at  the  veiled  messenger  of  Omar.  The 
word,  "Mount!"  was  sternly  repeated. 
Then  he  quickly  obeyed,  evidently  bewil- 
dered, but  well  satisfied  that  he  would  have 
an  easy  task  before  him,  from  the  moment 
the  white  camel  realized  that  a  stranger 
was  in  command. 

Kanana  spoke,  and  the  camel  started. 


A  PRIZE  WORTH  WINNING     77 

The  dromedary  moved  forward  close  be- 
hind it  without  a  word  from  the  driver. 
The  horsemen  had  approached  no  nearer 
while  they  waited,  though  Kanana  had  pur- 
posely given  them  time  enough  to  pass,  had 
they  not  halted  when  he  halted.  They 
were  still  five  silent  shadows  upon  the  dis- 
tant sand. 

"Faster,"  said  Kanana,  and  the  long 
legs  of  the  white  camel  swung  out  a  little 
farther  over  the  sand  and  moved  more  rap^ 
idly,  in  response. 

The  dromedary  immediately  quickened 
its  pace  without  urging,  and,  a  moment 
later,  from  far  in  the  distance,  the  night 
wind  brought  the  sound  of  horses'  hoofs 
through  the  silent  valley.  It  was  very 
faint,  but  distinct  enough  to  indicate  that 
the  shadows  behind  them  had  broken  into 
a  canter. 

The  camel-driver  gave  little  heed  to  his 
surroundings.  He  was  too  thoroughly 
engrossed  in  the  prospect  of  owning  the 


78       THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

white  camel  to  care  who  might  be  coming 
or  going  in  a  way  as  safe  as  that  from 
Tayf  to  Mecca. 

Kanana,  however,  who  could  walk 
through  the  streets  of  the  holy  city  with- 
out so  much  as  knowing  what  the  houses 
were  made  of,  would  have  heard  the  wings 
of  a  night-moth  passing  him,  or  seen  a 
sand-bush  move,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  away. 

His  life  as  a  shepherd  had,  after  all,  not 
been  wasted. 

"Faster,"  said  Kanana,  touching  the 
camel's  neck  with  his  shepherd's  staff,  and 
without  even  the  usual  grunt  of  objection, 
the  animal  obeyed.  The  sand  began  to  fly 
from  his  great  feet  as  they  rested  upon  it 
for  an  instant,  then  left  it  far  behind;  the 
Bedouin  boy  sat  with  eyes  fixed  on  the  path 
before  him,  and  his  head  bent  so  that  he 
could  catch  the  faintest  sounds  coming  from 
behind.  The  mantle  that  had  covered  his 
face  fell  loosely  over  his  shoulder. 

The  dromedary  lost  a  little  ground  for  a 
moment,  but  gathering  himself  together, 


A  PEIZE  WORTH  WINNING     79 

easily  made  it  up.  The  driver  was  too  sure 
of  the  final  result  to  urge  him  unduly  at  the 
start.  Soon  enough  the  white  camel  would 
rebel  of  his  own  accord,  and  till  then  it 
was  quite  sufficient  to  keep  pace  with 
him. 

The  sound  of  horses'  hoofs  became 
sharper  and  more  distinct,  and  Omar's 
messenger  knew  that  the  five  shadows  were 
being  pressed  to  greater  speed,  and  were 
drawing  nearer. 

"  Faster !"  said  Kanana,  and  the  white 
camel  broke  into  a  run,  swinging  in  rapid 
motions  from  side  to  side,  as  two  feet  upon 
one  side,  then  two  on  the  other  were  thrown 
far  in  front  of  him  and,  in  an  instant,  left 
as  far  behind. 

Still  the  dromedary  made  light  work  of 
keeping  close  upon  his  track,  evidently  re- 
alizing what  was  expected  of  him;  but  the 
driver  saw  with  dismay  how  quickly  the 
camel  responded  to  the  word  of  his  rider, 
how  easily  the  man  sat  upon  the  swaying 
back — how  carefully  he  selected  the  best 


80       THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

path  for  the  animal,  and  how  skillfully  he 
guided  him  so  that  he  could  make  the  best 
speed  with  the  least  exertion. 

Many  a  night  Kanana  had  run  unsad 
died  camels  about  the  pastures  of  the  Beni 
Sads,   guarding   the    sleeping   sheep   and 
goats,  little  dreaming  for  what  he  was  be- 
ing educated. 

The  sound  of  horses  •  hoofs  grew  fainter. 
They  were  losing  ground,  but  now  and 
then  the  listening  ear  caught  the  sharp  cry 
of  an  Arab  horseman  urging  his  animal  to 
greater  speed. 

"They  are  in  earnest,"  muttered  the 
Bedouin  boy,  "but  they  will  not  win  the 
race." 

"Faster!"  said  Kanana;  the  camel's 
head  dropped  till  his  neck  lost  its  graceful 
curve,  and  the  great  white  ship  of  the  des- 
ert seemed  almost  flying  over  the  billowy 
sand. 

For  a  moment  the  dromedary  dropped 
behind.  The  driver  had  to  use  the  prod 
and  force  him  to  the  very  best  that  was  in 


A  PRIZE  WORTH  WINNING     81 

him,  before  lie  was  able  to  regain  the  lost 
ground. 

The  sound  of  hoofs  could  no  longer  be 
heard,  and  Kanana  was  obliged  to  listen 
with  the  utmost  care  to  catch  the  faintest 
echo  of  a  distant  voice. 

"They  are  doing  their  best  and  are 
beaten,  but  we  can  do  still  better,"  he  said 
to  himself  with  a  deep  sigh  of  relief,  as  he 
watched  the  desert  shrubs  fly  past  them  in 
fleeting  shadows,  scudding  over  the  silver- 
gray  sand. 

The  music  of  the  sand,  as  it  flew  from 
the  camel's  feet  and  fell  like  hail  upon  the 
dry  leaves  of  the  desert  shrubs,  was  a  de- 
lightful melody,  and  hour  after  hour  they 
held  the  rapid  pace;  over  low  hills  and 
sandy  plains ;  past  the  mud  village  and  the 
well  that  marks  the  resting-place  for  cara- 
vans, a  night's  journey  from  Mecca,  with- 
out a  sign  of  halting;  and  on  and  on,  the 
dromedary  always  just  so  far  behind, 
always  doing  his  best  to  come  nearer. 

If  by  urging  he  was  brought  a  little  closer 


82       THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

to  the  camel,  the  driver  heard  that  low 
word,  "  Faster !"  and  in  spite  of  him  the 
camel  gained  again.  "Would  he  never 
stop? 

The  sounds  from  behind  had  long  been 
lost  when,  far  in  advance,  appeared  the 
regular  caravan  from  Tayf.  They  ap- 
proached it  like  the  wind.  Only  the  mystic 
salaam  of  the  desert  was  solemnly  ex- 
changed, then,  in  a  moment,  the  trailing 
train  as  it  crept  westward  was  left,  disap- 
pearing in  the  darkness  behind  them. 

When  it  was  out  of  sight  the  white  camel 
suddenly  changed  its  course,  turning 
sharply  to  the  north  of  east  and  striking 
directly  over  the  desert,  away  from  the  hills 
and  the  beaten  track  to  Tayf  which  he  had 
been  following. 

The  driver  could  not  imagine  that  such  a 
man  as  sat  upon  the  white  camel  had  lost 
his  way.  He  silently  followed  till  they 
passed  a  well  that  marked  the  second 
night's  journey  from  Mecca  toward  Persia. 

The  driver  and  dromedary  would  very 


A  PEIZE  WORTH  WINNING     83 

willingly  have  stopped  here ;  but  the  camel 
glided  onward  before  them  through  the 
changing  shadows  of  the  night,  as  though 
it  were  some  phantom,  and  not  a  thing  of 
flesh  and  blood. 

By  dint  of  urging,  the  driver  brought  the 
dromedary  near  enough  to  call : 

"  Master,  we  are  not  upon  the  road  to 
Tayf." 

"No,"  said  Kanana,  but  the  camel  still 
held  his  course. 

Driven  to  desperation,  as  the  eastern  sky 
was  brightening,  the  driver  called  again: 

"Master,  you  will  kill  the  camel!" 

"Not  in  one  night,"  said  Kanana;  "but 
if  you  value  your  own  life,  come  on!" 

Faster  still  and  faster  the  white  camel 
swept  toward  the  glowing  east,  but  the 
dromedary  had  done  his  best.  He  could 
not  do  better. 

More  and  more  he  fell  behind,  and  in 
spite  of  every  effort  of  the  driver,  the  pride 
of  the  caliph  was  beaten. 

Fainter  and  fainter  grew  the  outline  of 


84      THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

the  white  camel  against  the  morning  sky, 
ever  swinging,  swinging,  swinging,  over 
the  silver-gray  sea,  with  a  motion  as  regu- 
lar and  firm  as  though  it  had  started  but 
an  hour  before. 

As  the  red  disc  of  the  fiery  sun  rose  out 
of  the  desert,  however,  the  driver  saw  the 
camel  pause,  turn  half  about,  till  his  huge 
outline  stood  out  in  bold  relief  against  the 
sky,  and  then  lie  down. 

Quickly  Kanana  dismounted.  He  ca- 
ressed the  camel  for  a  moment,  whisper- 
ing, "We  are  two  days  and  a  half  from 
Mecca!  Thou  hast  done  better  than  I 
hoped.  Thou  didst  remember  me  yester- 
day in  the  temple  court.  To-night  thou 
hast  cheerfully  given  every  atom  of  thy 
strength  to  help  me.  To-morrow  we  shall 
be  far  apart.  Allah  alone  knows  for  what 
or  for  how  long ;  but  if  we  ever  meet  again 
thou  wilt  remember  me.  Yes,  thou  wilt 
greet  thy  Kanana." 

The  boy's  dark  eyes  were  bright  with 
tears  as  he  gave  the  camel  the  best  of  the 


A  PRIZE  WORTH  WINNING     85 

food  provided  for  him;  then,  with  sand  in 
stead  of  water  performing  the  morning  ab- 
lution, he  faced  toward  Mecca. 

When  the  dromedary  and  his  rider 
reached  the  spot,  the  veiled  messenger  of 
Omar  was  solemnly  repeating  his  morning 
prayer. 


vm 

TO  SEEK  THE  BENI  SADS 

ALL  in  vain  the  camel  driver  sought  to 
obtain  one  glimpse  beneath  the  man- 
tle, to  see  the  face  of  the  caliph's  messen- 
ger or  to  learn  anything  of  their  destina- 
tion. 

He  prepared  their  very  frugal  breakfast 
without  a  fire,  and,  when  it  was  eaten,  in 
the  humble,  reproachful  tone  of  one  who 
felt  himself  unjustly  suspected,  he  said: 

"My  master,  why  didst  thou  deceive  me, 
saying  we  should  go  to  Tayf  ?  Didst  thou 
think  that  I  would  not  willingly  and  freely 
lead  the  white  camel  anywhere,  to  serve 
the  great  caliph? " 

"There  were  other  ears  than  yours  to 
hear,"  replied  Kanana. 

"There  were  only  beggars  at  the  gate, 
my  master.  Dost  thou  believe  I  would  be 

86 


TO  SEEK  THE  BENI  SADS      87 

treacherous  to  a  servant  of  Omar  and  the 
Prophet?" 

"I  believe  that  every  child  of  Ishmael 
will  serve  himself,"  replied  Kanana;  "but 
that  had  nothing  to  do  with  what  I  said. 
Before  we  start  to-night,  I  will  lay  out 
your  path  before  you,  to  the  very  end.  As 
for  the  beggars,  where  were  your  senses? 
For  three  days,  in  disguise,  I  journeyed 
with  the  caravan  of  Raschid  Airikat,  as  it 
came  to  Mecca.  I  saw  in  him  a  treacherous 
man,  and  when  he  yielded  to  a  command 
he  must  obey  and  gave  me  the  white  camel 
and  his  driver,  I  knew  that  he  would  take 
them  back  again  by  stealth  and  treachery, 
if  he  were  able  to.  Have  I  no  eyes,  that 
I  should  spend  three  days  with  the  cara- 
van and  then  not  recognize  the  servants  of 
Airikat,  though  they  were  dressed  as  beg- 
gars and  slunk  away,  with  covered  faces, 
into  the  shadows  of  the  caliph's  gate? 
They  did  not  cover  their  feet,  and  by  their 
feet  I  knew  them,  even  when  they  deceived 
you,  one  of  their  own.  To  them  I  said, 


88       THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

'Go,  tell  your  master  that  his  white  camel 
is  on  the  way  to  Tayf.'  " 

"My  master,"  said  the  driver,  respect- 
fully, "the  sheik  Airikat  is  as  devout  as  he 
is  treacherous  and  brave.  He  gave  the 
sacred  camel  and  thy  servant  willingly,  at 
the  command  of  Omar,  for  the  service  of 
Allah  and  Arabia.  I  do  not  think  he  would 
deal  treacherously/' 

Kanana  did  not  reply,  for  far  away  over 
the  desert,  to  the  east,  there  was  a  little 
speck  of  dark,  like  a  faint  shadow,  upon 
the  sand.  He  sat  in  silence  watching  it 
through  the  folds  of  his  mantle,  as  it  grew 
larger  and  larger,  and  a  long  caravan  ap- 
proached. 

The  camels  were  worn  out  from  a  long 
journey.  Their  heads  hung  down,  and 
their  feet  dragged  languidly  over  the  sand. 
Their  slow  progress  had  belated  them,  and 
the  sun  would  be  several  hours  above  the 
desert  when  they  reached  the  oasis  by  the 
well,  which  the  two  had  passed  before  day- 
light. 


TO  SEEK  THE  BENI  SADS      89 

As  they  drew  nearer  it  could  easily  be 
seen  that  the  camels  bore  no  burdens  but 
necessary  food,  in  sacks  that  were  nearly 
empty,  and  that  their  riders  were  savage 
men  from  the  eastern  borders  of  Arabia. 

" Master,  do  they  see  us?"  muttered  the 
driver. 

"They  have  eyes,"  replied  Kanana. 
And  they  had.  A  fresh  dromedary  and  a 
white  camel  alone  upon  the  desert,  were  a 
tempting  prize. 

They  evidently  determined  to  appro- 
priate them ;  for,  leaving  the  main  body  of 
the  caravan  standing  in  the  path,  twenty 
or  more  turned  suddenly,  and  came  directly 
toward  them* 

"Master,  we  must  fly  from  them,"  whis- 
pered the  driver. 

"If  they  were  behind  us  I  would  fly," 
replied  Kanana,  "for  every  step  would  be 
well  taken;  but  my  path  lies  yonder."  He 
pointed  directly  toward  the  caravan. 
"And  I  would  not  turn  from  it  though 
devils  instead  of  men  were  in  the  way." 


90       THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

"It  is  the  will  of  Allah.  We  are  lost," 
muttered  the  camel-driver,  and  his  arms 
dropped  sullenly  upon  his  knees,  in  the 
dogged  resignation  to  fate  so  character- 
istic of  the  Bedouin. 

Kanana  made  no  reply,  but,  repeating 
from  the  Koran,  "  *  Whatever  of  good  be- 
tideth  thee  cometh  from  Him,'  "  he  rose 
and  walked  slowly  to  where  the  white  camel 
was  lying. 

Upon  the  high  saddle,  which  had  not  yet 
been  removed,  hung  the  inevitable  lance 
and  sword,  placed  there  by  the  officer  of 
the  caliph. 

Leaning  back  against  the  saddle  to  await 
the  approach  of  the  caravan,  the  Bedouin 
boy  threw  his  right  hand  carelessly  across 
the  hilt  of  the  Damascus  blade,  exposing, 
almost  to  the  shoulder,  the  rounded  muscles 
of  the  powerful  arm  of — a  shepherd  lad. 

The  caravan  drew  nearer  and  finally 
halted  when  the  leader  was  less  than  ten 
paces  from  the  white  camel. 

His  envious  eyes  had  been  gloating  over 


TO  SEEK  THE  BENI  SADS      91 

the  tempting  prize  as  he  approached;  but 
gradually  they  became  fastened  upon  that 
hand  and  arm,  while  the  fingers  that  were 
playing  gently  upon  the  polished  hilt 
seemed  to  beckon  him  on  to  test  the  gleam- 
ing blade  beneath. 

He  could  not  see  the  beardless  face,  pro- 
tected by  the  mantle.  How  could  he 
know  that  that  hand  had  never  drawn  a 
sword? 

The  whole  appearance  indicated  a  man 
without  one  thought  of  fear,  and  the  savage 
chief  realized  that,  before  the  white  camel 
became  his  prize,  some  one  beside  its  pres- 
ent owner  would  doubtless  pay  a  dear  price 
for  it. 

He  was  still  determined  to  possess  it,  but 
the  silent  figure  demanded  and  received  re- 
spect from  !rim. 

Instead  of  the  defiant  words  which  were 
upon  his  tongue,  he  pronounced  the  desert 
greeting. 

Kanana  returned  the  salutation,  and  im- 
mediately asked,  "Did  the  dust  from  Kah- 


92       THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

led's  host  blow  over  you  when  your  foot 
was  on  the  sand  of  Bashra?" 

The  sheik  drew  back  a  little.  It  was  a 
slight  but  very  suggestive  motion,  speaking 
volumes  to  the  keen  eye  of  the  Bedouin 
boy.  He  had  been  leaning  forward  before, 
more  than  is  natural  even  to  one  tired  out 
with  sitting  upon  a  camel's  back.  It  was 
as  if  in  his  eagerness  he  was  reaching  for- 
ward to  grasp  the  prize.  Now  he  seemed 
suddenly  to  have  lost  that  eagerness. 

Quickly,  Kanana  took  advantage  of  the 
hint.  He  drew  from  his  bosom  the  letter 
of  the  caliph,  sealed  with  the  great  seal  of 
Mohammed,  which  every  Mussulman  could 
recognize,  and  calmly  holding  it  plainly  in 
view,  he  continued: 

"The  beak  of  the  vulture  has  whitened, 
instead  of  the  bones  he  would  Lave  plucked. 
The  tooth  of  the  jackal  is  broken,  and  not 
the  flesh  he  would  have  torn.  Easchid 
Airikat  is  neither  at  Damascus  nor  Mecca. 
To-morrow  morning  he  will  be  at  Tayf. 
He  would  have  you  meet  him  there.  Say 


TO  SEEK  THE  BENI  SADS      93 

to  him,  'The  fool  hath  eaten  his  own 
folly.  The  veiled  messenger  of  the 
Prophet,  sitting  upon  the  sacred  camel, 
glides  with  the  night  wind  into  the  rising 
sun ;  for  the  fire  is  lighted  in  Hejaz  that  at 
Bashra  shall  cause  the  camels'  necks  to 
shine.'  " 

A  decided  change  came  over  the  savage 
face  of  the  Arab  sheik.  He  sat  in  silence 
for  a  moment,  then,  without  a  word,  drove 
the  prod  into  his  cameL 

There  was  a  grunt  and  a  gurgling  wail, 
and  the  tired  animal  was  moving  on,  fol- 
lowed by  all  the  rest. 

Kanana  and  his  camel-driver  were  left 
alone.  When  they  were  well  out  of  hear- 
ing the  driver  prostrated  himself  before 
Kanana,  touching  his  forehead  to  the 
ground,  and  asked : 

"  Master,  who  was  that  sheik,  with  all 
his  warriors,  and  who  art  thou  that  they 
should  cower  before  thy  word?" 

"I  am  no  one  to  receive  your  homage. 
Stand  upon  your  feet!"  almost  shouted 


94       THE  LANCE  OF  XANANA 

Kanana.  "I  never  saw  nor  heard  of  them 
until  to-day." 

He  breathed  a  deep,  quivering  sigh,  and 
leaned  heavily  upon  the  saddle;  for  every 
muscle  in  his  body  shook  and  trembled  as 
the  result  of  what  had  seemed  so  calm  and 
defiant.  He  tried  to  replace  the  letter  in 
his  bosom,  but  his  hand  trembled  so  that 
he  was  obliged  to  wait. 

"Thou  knewest  that  he  was  of  the  tribe 
of  Easchid  Airikat,  and  that  he  came  from 
Bashra,"  said  the  driver. 

"I  knew  nothing,"  replied  Kanana,  petu- 
lantly, in  the  intense  reaction.  '  '  How  long 
have  you  been  a  man,  well  taught  in  killing 
other  men,  not  to  see  what  any  cowardly 
shepherd  boy  could  read?  Were  not  their 
lances  made  of  the  same  peculiar  wood; 
and  their  camel  saddles,  were  they  not  the 
same,  stained  with  the  deep  dye  of  Bashra  ? 
Who  should  come  out  of  the  rising  sun>  with 
his  camel  licking  the  desert  sand,  if  he  came 
not  from  Bashra?  Who  should  be  going 
toward  Mecca  at  this  season,  without  a  bur- 


TO  SEEK  THE  BENI  SADS      95 

dened  camel  in  his  caravan,  if  he  went  not 
to  meet  his  chief  for  war?  Why  did  Air- 
ikat  crowd  his  caravan,  day  and  night,  if 
he  expected  no  one?" 

"But,  master,  Airikat  is  at  Mecca,  not 
at  Tayf,"  said  the  camel-driver. 

"Bedouin,  where  are  your  eyes  and 
ears!"  exclaimed  Kanana,  scornfully. 
"Your  paltry  beggars  at  the  caliph's  gate 
carried  my  message  swiftly.  We  had  not 
left  the  gate  of  Mecca  out  of  sight  when  on 
the  road  behind  us  came  Airikat  and  four 
followers.  While  you  were  struggling  to 
reach  the  white  camel,  they  did  their  best 
to  overtake  us  both,  but  we  outstripped 
them.  We  kept  upon  the  way  till  we  had 
passed  the  nightly  caravan.  They  would 
have  to  rest  their  horses  at  the  well,  and 
the  caravan  would  halt  there,  too.  They 
would  inquire  for  us,  and  the  caravan  would 
answer,  'We  passed  the  white  camel  run- 
ning like  the  wind  toward  Tayf . '  Enough,, 
Airikat  with  his  horsemen  cannot  reach 
there  before  the  next  sunrise,  and  when  he 


96       THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

learns  the  truth  he  will  be  five  days  be- 
hind us.  From  him  and  yonder  caravan 
by  the  help  of  Allah  we  are  safe.  If  you 
would  learn  a  lesson,  by  the  way,  let  it  be 
this :  that  man  can  conquer  man  without  a 
sword  or  lance.  Sleep  on  it." 

Setting  the  example,  Kanana  removed 
the  camel's  saddle,  fastened  his  hind  foot 
to  his  haunch  with  the  twisted  rope  so  that 
he  could  not  rise,  and  sank  upon  the  sand 
beside  him,  laying  his  head  upon  the  crea- 
ture's neck. 

The  last  words  which  he  heard  from  his 
driver  were:  " Master,  thou  art  mightier 
than  Airikat  and  all  his  warriors." 

The  sun  beat  fiercely  down  all  day  upon 
his  resting-place;  but  Kanana 's  sleep  was 
sweeter  than  if  the  cool  starlight  had  been 
over  him,  or  a  black  tent  of  the  Beni  Sads ; 
because,  for  that  one  day  at  least,  his  head 
was  pillowed  upon  the  white  camel's  neck. 

It  was  late  in  the  afternoon  before  he 
woke,  and  the  sun  was  setting  when  the  lit- 
tle caravan  was  again  prepared  to  start. 


TO  SEEK  THE  BENI  SADS      97 

They  were  ready  to  mount  when  the 
driver  came  to  the  white  camel.  He  laid 
his  hand  upon  the  dingy  haunch,  and  said, 
in  a  voice  that  was  strangely  pleading  for 
a  fierce  Bedouin: 

"  Master,  do  not  crowd  him  over-hard  to- 
night. He  obeys  too  willingly.  He  is  tired 
from  a  long  journey.  It  is  four  weeks 
since  he  has  rested.  I  would  rather  you 
would  kill  me  than  the  white  camel." 

Kanana  thought  for  a  moment,  then  tak- 
ing his  shepherd's  staff  from  the  saddle, 
he  replied: 

"You  can  tell  better  than  I  how  he  should 
be  driven.  Mount  him,  and  I  will  ride  the 
dromedary." 

To  the  driver  this  was  only  Arab  sar- 
casm, and  he  hesitated  till  Kanana  silently 
pointed  his  staff  toward  the  saddle,  and  the 
driver  was  more  afraid  to  refuse  than  to 
obey. 

Kanana  turned  and  mounted  the  drome- 
dary. 

As  the  camel  rose  to  his  feet,  a  strange 


98       THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

temptation  sent  the  blood  tingling  to  the 
driver's  finger-tips. 

The  dromedary  was  unarmed.  The  mes- 
senger of  Omar  held  only  a  shepherd's 
staff.  Almost  unconsciously  his  hand 
clutched  the  hilt  of  the  Damascus  blade, 
betraying  the  fact  that  it  was  better  used 
to  holding  such  a  thing  than  the  rope  that 
led  the  white  camel  through  Mecca. 

Quickly  the  driver  looked  back,  to  see 
Kanana  quietly  watching  him.  Instantly 
his  hand  dropped  the  hilt,  but  it  was  too 
late.  Scornfully  Kanana  said: 

"Lo!  every  child  of  Ishmael,  from  the 
devout  Easchid  to  the  faithful  camel- 
driver,  will  serve  himself.  Nay,  keep  the 
hand  upon  the  sword.  Perchance  there 
will  be  better  cause  to  use  it  than  in  defy- 
ing me.  From  here  our  paths  must  sep- 
arate. I  promised  that  to-night  I  would 
lay  out  your  course  for  you.  It  is  north- 
ward, without  swerving,  for  ten  nights,  at 
least." 
,  "And  whither  goest  thou,  my  master?" 


TO  SEEK  THE  BENI  SADS      99 

"That  only  Allah  can  direct,  from  day 
to  day.  La  Illaha  il  Allah!" 

"And  what  is  my  mission  to  beH"  asked 
the  driver,  anxiously. 

"It  is  to  seek  the  Beni  Sads;  to  find  the 
aged  chief,  the  Terror  of  the  Desert ;  to  say 
to  him,  'Kanana  hath  fulfilled  his  vow.' 
He  hath  not  lifted  the  lance  against  Airi- 
kat;  but  thy  white  camel  is  returned  to 
thee,  bearing  thy  first-born  upon  his  back. 
Go,  and  God  go  with  thee ! ' ' 

6 '  Who  art  thou  f ' '  cried  the  man  upon  the 
white  camel,  starting  from  his  seat  as  the 
dromedary  gave  the  usual  grunt,  in  answer 
to  the  prod,  and  moved  away. 

The  Bedouin  boy  turned  in  the  saddle, 
tore  off  the  abbe  and  the  mantle  that  cov- 
ered him,  and  clad  in  the  sheepskin  coat 
and  desert  turban  answered: 

"I  am  thy  brother  Kanana,  the  coward 
of  the  Beni  Sads  V9 


IX 

FOB  ALLAH  AND  ABASIA 

"IT"  AN  AN  A!  our  Kanana!"  cried  the 

M\>  brother,  striking  the  camel's  neck. 
The  dingy  dignity  of  the  great  white  camel 
was  ruffled  by  the  blow  received,  and  he 
expressed  his  disapproval  in  a  series  of 
grunts  before  he  made  any  attempt  to  start. 

"Kanana!  Kanana!"  the  brother  called 
again,  seeing  the  dromedary  already  merg- 
ing into  the  shadows ;  but  the  only  response 
he  received  was  from  the  shepherd's  staff, 
extended  at  arm's  length  pointing  north- 
ward. 

"My  young  brother  shall  not  leave  me  in 
this  way.  He  has  no  weapon  of  defense 
and  only  a  little  of  the  grain." 

Again  he  struck  the  camel  a  sharp  blow 
as  the  animal  began  very  slowly  to  move 

forward.   The  black  dromedary  was  hardly 
100 


FOE  ALLAH  AND  ARABIA    101 

distinguishable  from  the  night,  and  was 
rapidly  sinking  into  the  deepening  shadows 
before  the  camel  was  fairly  on  the  way. 

"Go!"  cried  the  rider  savagely,  striking 
him  again,  and  the  camel  moved  a  little 
faster;  but  he  made  slow  and  lumbering 
work,  for  he  was  not  at  all  pleased  with  his 
treatment. 

The  rider's  eyes  were  fixed  intently  upon 
the  dim  outline  sinking  away  from  him. 
The  last  he  saw  of  it  was  the  hand  and  arm, 
still  holding  the  extended  shepherd's  staff, 
pointing  to  the  north.  Then  all  was  lost. 

He  kept  on  in  that  direction  for  an  hour, 
but  it  was  evident  that  he  had  begun  in  the 
wrong  way  with  the  camel,  and  that  he  was 
not  forcing  him  to  anything  like  his  speed 
of  the  night  before. 

It  was  beyond  his  power  to  overtake  the 
dromedary,  and  doubly  chagrined  he  gave 
up  the  race  and  turned  northward. 

The  path  before  Kanana  was  the  high- 
way between  Persia  and  Mecca.  At  some 
seasons  it  was  almost  hourly  traversed,  but 


102     THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

at  midsummer  only  absolute  necessity 
drove  the  Arabs  across  the  very  heart  of 
the  desert. 

In  the  height  of  the  rainy  season  there 
were  even  occasional  pools  of  water  in  the 
hollows,  here  and  there.  Later  there  was 
coarse,  tough  grass  growing,  sometimes  for 
miles  along  the  way. 

Little  by  little,  however,  they  disap- 
peared. Then  the  green  of  each  oasis 
shrank  toward  the  center,  about  the  spring 
or  well,  and  often  before  midsummer  was 
over,  they  too  had  dried  away. 

The  prospect  of  loneliness,  however,  was 
not  at  all  disheartening  to  Kanana.  He 
had  no  desire  to  meet  with  any  one,  least 
of  all  with  such  parties  as  would  be  apt 
to  cross  the  desert  at  this  season. 

If  a  moving  shadow  appeared  in  the  dis- 
tance, he  turned  well  to  one  side  and  had 
the  dromedary  lie  down  upon  the  sand  till 
it  passed. 

The  black  dromedary  was  fresh,  and  the 
Bedouin  boy  knew  well  how  to  make  the 


FOE  ALLAH  AND  AKABIA    103 

most  of  his  strength  while  it  lasted ;  but  it 
was  for  Allah  and  Arabia  that  they  crossed 
the  desert,  and  Kanana  felt  that  neither 
his  own  life  nor  that  of  the  dromedary  could 
be  accounted  of  value  compared  with  the 
demand  for  haste. 

He  paid  no  heed  to  the  usual  camping- 
grounds  for  caravans,  except  to  be  sure 
that  he  passed  two  of  them  every  night  till 
the  dromedary's  strength  began  to  fail. 

Each  morning  the  sun  was  well  upon  its 
way  before  he  halted  for  the  day,  and  long 
before  it  set  again  he  was  following  his 
shadow  upon  the  sand. 

More  and  more  the  dromedary  felt  the 
strain.  When  twelve  nights  had  passed, 
the  pride  of  the  caliph  was  anything  but  a 
tempting  prize,  and  Kanana  would  hardly 
have  troubled  himself  to  turn  out  for  a 
caravan  even  if  he  had  thought  it  a  band 
of  robbers. 

The  Bedouin  boy,  too,  was  thoroughly 
worn  and  exhausted.  For  days  they  had 
been  without  water,  checking  their  thirst 


104     THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

by  chewing  the  prickly  leaves  of  the  little 
desert  vine  that  is  the  last  sign  of  life  npon 
the  drying  sand.  No  dew  fell  at  this  sea- 
son, and  Kanana  realized  that  it  was  only 
a  matter  of  hours  as  to  how  much  longer 
they  could  hold  out. 

Morning  came  without  a  sign  of  water 
or  of  life,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach. 

The  sun  rose  higher,  and  Kanana  longed 
for  the  sight  of  a  human  being  as  intensely 
as  at  first  he  had  dreaded  it. 

Nothing  but  the  ghastly  bones  of  men 
and  animals  bleaching  among  the  sand- 
shrubs  showed  him  that  he  was  still  upon 
the  highway  to  Bashra. 

Out  of  the  glaring  silver-gray,  the  fiery 
sun  sailed  into  the  lusterless  blue  of  the 
dry,  hot  sky,  leaving  the  two  separated  by 
the  eternal  belt  of  leaden  clouds  that  never 
rise  above  a  desert-horizon  and  never  dis- 
perse in  rain. 

Kanana  halted  only  for  his  morning 
prayer,  and,  when  it  was  finished,  the  peti- 
tion that  he  added  for  himself  was  simply 


FOE  ALLAH  AND  ARABIA    105 

" Water!  water!  0  Allah!  give  us  water.'' 
Each  day  the  heat  had  become  more  in- 
tense, and  to-day  it  seemed  almost  to  burn 
the  very  sand.  As  Kanana  mounted  again 
and  started  on,  his  tired  eyes  sought  anx- 
iously the  glaring  billows  for  some  sign  of 
life ;  but  not  a  living  thing,  no  shadow  even, 
broke  the  fearful  monotony. 

There  were  gorgeous  promises,  but  they 
did  not  deceive  the  eyes  that  had  looked  so 
often  along  the  sand.  There  were  great 
cities  rising  upon  the  distant  horizon,  with 
stately  domes  and  graceful  minarets  such 
as  were  never  known  throughout  the  length 
and  breadth  of  Arabia.  And  when  the 
bells  ceased  tolling  in  Kanana 's  ears,  he 
could  hear  the  muezzin's  call  to  prayer. 
Then  the  bells  would  toll  again  and  he 
would  mutter,  " Water!  water!  0  Allah! 
give  us  water." 

He  had  no  longer  any  heart  to  urge  the 
tired  dromedary  to  a  faster  pace.  He 
knew  that  it  would  only  be  to  see  him  fall, 
the  sooner,  upon  the  sand.  The  tired  crea- 


106     THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

ture's  head  hung  down  till  his  nose  touched 
the  earth  as  he  plodded  slowly  onward. 

The  sun  rose  higher.  It  was  past  the 
hour  when  they  always  stopped,  but 
neither  thought  of  stopping.  Waiting 
would  not  bring  the  water  to  them,  and  the 
Bedouin  boy  knew  well  that  to  lie  on  the 
desert  sand  that  day  meant  to  lie  there  for- 
ever. 

The  dromedary  knew  it  as  well  as  his 
master,  and  without  a  word  to  urge  him,  he 
kept  his  feet  slowly  moving  onward,  like 
an  automaton,  with  his  nose  thrust  for- 
ward just  above  the  sand,  as  though  he  too 
were  pleading:  " Water!  water!  0  Al- 
lah! give  us  water." 

His  eyes  were  closed.  His  feet  dragged 
along  the  sand.  Kanana  did  not  attempt 
to  guide  him,  though  he  swayed  from  side 
to  side,  sometimes  reeling  and  almost  fall- 
ing over  low  hillocks  which  he  made  no  ef- 
fort to  avoid. 

Kanana  could  scarcely  keep  his  own  eyes 
open.  The  glare  of  the  desert  was  blind- 


FOB  ALLAH  AND  AEABIA     107 

ing;  but  their  last  hope  lay  in  his  watchful- 
ness. 

He  struggled  hard  to  keep  back  the 
treacherous  drowsiness,  but  his  head  would 
drop  upon  one  shoulder,  then  upon  the 
other.  He  could  have  fallen  from  the  sad- 
dle and  stretched  himself  upon  the  sand  to 
die  without  a  struggle,  had  it  not  been  for 
the  caliph's  letter  in  his  bosom.  Again 
and  again  he  pressed  his  hand  upon  it  to 
rouse  himself,  and  muttered,  "By  the 
help  of  Allah,  I  will  deliver  it. ' ' 

Each  time  that  this  roused  him  he 
shaded  his  eyes  and  sought  again  the  sand 
before  him;  but  glaring  and  gray  it 
stretched  away  to  the  horizon,  without  one 
shadow  save  that  of  the  forest  of  low  and 
brittle  sand-shrubs. 

The  burning  sky  grew  black  above  him, 
and  the  desert  became  a  fiery  red.  The 
dromedary  did  not  seem  like  a  living  thing. 
He  thought  he  was  sitting  upon  his  perch 
in  the  harvest  field.  The  sun  seemed  cold, 
as  its  rays  beat  upon  his  head.  He  shiv- 


108     THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

ered  and  unconsciously  drew  the  wings  of 
his  turban  over  his  face.  No  wonder  it 
was  cold.  It  was  the  early  morning  under 
Mount  Hor.  Yes,  there  were  all  the  blue 
forget-me-nots.  How  the  stream  rippled 
and  gurgled  among  them ! 

He  started.  What  was  that  shock  that 
roused  him?  Was  it  the  robbers  coming 
down  upon  him?  He  shook  himself 
fiercely.  Was  he  sleeping?  He  struggled 
to  spring  to  his  feet,  but  they  were  tangled 
in  something. 

At  last  his  blood-shot  eyes  slowly  opened 
and  consciousness  returned.  The  drome- 
dary had  fallen  to  the  ground,  beside — an 
empty  well. 

Kanana  struggled  to  his  feet  and  looked 
down  among  the  rocks.  The  bottom  was 
as  dry  as  the  sand  upon  which  he  was 
standing. 

He  looked  back  at  the  dromedary.  Its 
eyes  were  shut.  Its  neck  was  stretched 
straight  out  before  it  on  the  sand,  its  head 
rested  upon  the  rocks  of  the  well. 


FOB  ALLAH  AND  AEABIA    109 

"Thou  hast  given  thy  life  for  Allah  and 
Arabia,"  Kanana  said,  "and  when  the 
Prophet  returns  in  his  glory,  he  will  re- 
member thee." 

He  took  the  sack  of  camel's  food  from 
the  saddle  and  emptied  the  whole  of  it 
where  the  dromedary  could  reach  it.  Then 
he  cut  the  saddle-straps  and  dragged  the 
saddle  to  one  side.  It  was  all  that  he  could 
do  for  the  dumb  beast  that  had  served 
him. 

Suddenly  he  noticed  that  the  sun  was  set- 
ting. All  the  long  day  he  must  have  slept, 
while  the  poor  dromedary  had  crept  on- 
ward toward  the  well.  It  had  not  been  a 
healthful  sleep,  but  it  refreshed  him,  and 
combined  with  the  excitement  of  waking 
and  working  for  the  dromedary,  he  found 
his  tongue  less  parched  than  before. 
Quickly  he  took  a  handful  of  wheat  and  be- 
gan to  chew  it  vigorously;  a  secret  which 
has  saved  the  life  of  many  a  Bedouin  upon 
the  great  sea  of  sand. 

For  a  moment  he  leaned  upon  the  empty 


110     THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

saddle  chewing  the  wheat,  watching  the  sun 
sink  into  the  sand  and  thinking. 

"Thirteen  days7'  he  muttered.  "I  said 
fourteen  when  I  started,  but  we  have  done 
better  than  three  days  in  two.  If  we  did 
not  turn  from  the  way  to-day,  this  well  is 
but  one  night  from  Bashra.  0  Allah! 
Mahamoud  rousol  il  Allah!  give  thy  serv- 
ant life  for  this  one  night." 

The  dromedary  had  not  moved  to  touch 
the  food  beside  him,  and  there  was  no  hope 
of  further  help  from  the  faithful  animal. 
Kanana  stood  beside  it  for  a  moment,  laid 
his  hand  gratefully  upon  the  motionless 
head,  then  took  up  his  shepherd's  staff  and 
started  on. 

Sometimes  waking,  sometimes  sleeping 
as  he  walked,  sometimes  thinking  himself 
far  away  from  the  sands  of  Bashra,  some- 
times urging  himself  on  with  a  realization 
that  he  must  be  near  his  journey's  end,  he 
pressed  steadily  on  and  on,  hour  after 
hour. 

Sometimes  he  felt  fresh  enough  to  start 


FOB  ALLAH  AND  ARABIA    111 

and  run.  Sometimes  he  wondered  if  lie 
had  the  strength  to  lift  his  foot  and  put  it 
forward  another  time.  Sometimes  he  felt 
sure  that  he  was  moving  faster  than  a  cara- 
van, and  that  he  should  reach  Bashra  be- 
fore morning.  Sometimes  it  seemed  as 
though  the  willing  spirit  must  leave  the 
lagging  flesh  behind  as  he  had  left  the 
dromedary,  and  go  on  alone  to  Bashra. 

Then  he  would  press  the  sacred  letter 
hard  against  his  bosom  and  repeat,  "By 
the  help  of  Allah  I  will  deliver  it!"  And 
all  the  time,  though  he  did  not  realize  it,  he 
was  moving  forward  with  swift  and  steady 
strides,  almost  as  though  he  were  inspired 
with  superhuman  strength. 

Far  away  to  the  east  a  little  spark  of 
light  appeared.  It  grew  and  rose,  till 
above  the  clouds  there  hung  a  thin  white 
crescent;  the  narrowest  line  of  moonlight. 

Kanana  gave  a  cry  of  joy,  for  it  was  an 
omen  which  no  Arab  could  fail  to  under- 
stand. 

Then  the  air  grew  cold.    The  darkest 


112     THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

hour  before  the  dawn  approached,  and  the 
narrow  moon  served  only  to  make  the  earth 
invisible. 

The  dread  of  meeting  any  one  had  long 
ago  left  Kanana's  mind.  First  he  had 
feared  it.  Then  he  had  longed  for  it. 
Now  he  was  totally  indifferent.  He  looked 
at  the  sky  above  him  to  keep  his  course. 
He  looked  at  the  sand  beneath  his  feet ;  but 
he  did  not  once  search  the  desert  before 
him. 

Suddenly  he  was  roused  from  his  leth- 
argy. There  were  shadows  just  ahead. 
He  paused,  shaded  his  eyes  from  the  sky 
and  looked  forward,  long  and  earnestly. 

' 'It  is  not  sand-shrubs,"  he  muttered. 
"It  is  too  high.  It  is  not  Bashra.  It  is 
too  low.  It  is  not  a  caravan.  It  does  not 
move.  It  has  no  beginning  and  no  end," 
he  added,  as  he  looked  to  right  and  left. 

"It  is  tents,"  he  said  a  moment  later, 
and  a  frown  of  anxiety  gathered  over  his 
forehead.  "Have  I  missed  the  way?  No 
tribe  so  large  as  that  would  be  tented  near 


FOE  ALLAH  AND  AEABIA    113 

Bashra.  If  I  turn  back  I  shall  die.  If  I 
go  on — La  lllaha  il  Allah!"  he  murmured, 
and  resolutely  advanced. 

As  he  drew  nearer,  the  indistinguishable 
noises  of  the  night  in  a  vast  encampment 
became  plainly  audible,  but  he  did  not  hesi- 
tate. 

Following  the  Arab  custom  for  every 
stranger  in  approaching  a  Bedouin  camp, 
he  paused  at  the  first  tent  he  reached,  and 
standing  before  the  open  front  repeated 
the  Mussulman  salutation. 

Some  one  within  roused  quickly,  and  out 
of  the  darkness  a  deep  voice  sounded  in 
reply. 

Then  Kanana  repeated : 

"I  am  a  wanderer  upon  the  desert.  I 
am  far  from  my  people."  And  the  voice 
replied : 

"If  you  can  lift  the  lance  for  Allah  and 
Arabia,  you  are  welcome  in  the  camp  of 
Kahled  the  Invincible." 

"La  lllaha  il  Allah!"  cried  Kanana. 
"Guide  me  quickly  to  the  tent  of  Kahled. 


114     THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

I  am  a  messenger  to  him  from  the  great 
Caliph  Omar." 

The  earth  reeled  beneath  the  feet  of  Ka- 
nana  as  the  soldier  led  the  way. 

The  general  was  roused  without  the  for- 
mality of  modern  military  tactics  or  even 
Mohammedan  courtesies.  A  torch  was 
quickly  lighted.  Kanana  prostrated  him- 
self; then  rising,  he  handed  the  precious 
packet  to  the  greatest  general  who  ever  led 
the  hosts  of  Mohammed. 

Kahled  the  Invincible  broke  the  seal,  but 
before  he  had  read  a  single  word,  the  Bed- 
ouin boy  fell  unconscious  upon  the  carpet 
of  the  tent. 

As  the  soldiers  lifted  him,  Kanana 
roused  for  an  instant  and  murmured : 

"By  the  dry  well,  one  night  to  the  south- 
west, my  black  dromedary  is  dying  of 
thirst.  In  Allah's  name,  send  him  water! 
He  brought  the  message  from  Mecca  in 
thirteen  days!"  Then  the  torch-light 
faded  before  his  eyes,  and  Kanana 's  lips 
were  sealed  in  unconsciousness. 


X 

KAN  ANA'S   THIRD   MISSION 

AVAST  Mohammedan  army,  with  its 
almost  innumerable  followers,  was 
marching  towards  Syria,  to  meet  the  hosts 
of  the  Emperor  Heraclius. 

Like  a  pillar  of  cloud  the  dust  rose  above 
the  mighty  throng. 

Armed  horsemen,  ten  thousand  strong, 
rode  in  advance. 

A  veteran  guard  of  scarred  and  savage 
men  came  next,  mounted  upon  huge  camels, 
surrounding  Kahled  the  Invincible  and  his 
chief  officers,  who  rode  upon  the  strongest 
and  most  beautiful  of  Persian  horses. 

A  little  distance  behind  were  thousands 
of  fierce  warriors  mounted  on  camels  and 
dromedaries.  Then  came  another  vast  de- 
tachment of  camels  bearing  the  tents,  fur- 
niture, and  provisions  of  the  army;  these 

115 


116     THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

were  followed  by  a  motley  throng,  com- 
prising the  families  of  many  of  the  tribes 
represented  in  the  front,  while  still  another 
powerful  guard  brought  up  the  rear. 

Behind  the  body-guard  of  Kahled  and  be- 
fore the  war-camels  rode  a  smaller  guard, 
in  the  center  of  which  were  two  camels, 
bearing  a  litter  between  them. 

Upon  this  litter  lay  Kanana,  shielded 
from  the  sun  by  a  goafs-hair  awning;  for 
almost  of  necessity  the  army  moved  by 
daylight.  It  started  an  hour  after  sun- 
rise, resting  two  hours  at  noon,  and  halt- 
ing an  hour  before  sunset.  It  moved  more 
rapidly  than  a  caravan,  however,  and  av- 
eraged twenty-five  miles  a  day. 

Close  behind  Kanana 's  litter  walked  a 
riderless  dromedary.  At  the  start  it  was 
haggard  and  worn.  Its  dark  hair  was 
burned  to  a  dingy  brown  by  the  fierce  heat 
of  the  desert;  but  even  Kahled  received 
less  careful  attention,  and  every  day  it 
gathered  strength  and  held  its  head  a  lit- 
tle higher. 


KANANA'S  THIRD  MISSION     117 

The  black  dromedary  was  not  allowed  to 
carry  any  burden,  but  was  literally  covered 
with  gay-colored  cloths;  decorating  the 
pride  of  Omar  the  Great,  that  had  brought 
the  good  news  from  Mecca  to  Bashra  in 
less  than  thirteen  days. 

Nothing  pleasanter  could  have  been  an- 
nounced to  that  terrible  army  of  veterans 
surrounding  the  valiant  Kahled,  than  that 
it  was  to  face  the  mightiest  host  which  the 
Emperor  Heraclius  could  gather  in  all  the 
north. 

There  was  not  one  in  all  that  throng  who 
doubted,  for  an  instant,  that  Kahled  could 
conquer  the  whole  world  if  he  chose,  in  the 
name  of  Allah  and  the  Prophet. 

Many  of  the  soldiers  had  followed  him 
since  the  day,  years  before,  when  he  made 
his  first  grand  plunge  into  Persia.  They 
had  seen  him  made  the  supreme  dictator  of 
Babylonia.  They  had  seen  him  send  that 
remarkable  message  to  the  great  monarch 
of  Persia : 

"  Prof  ess   the   faith   of  Allah   and  his 


118     THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

Prophet,  or  pay  tribute  to  their  servants. 
If  you  refuse  I  will  come  upon  you  with  a 
host  that  loves  death  as  much  as  you  love 
life." 

Once  before  had  they  seen  him  sum- 
moned from  his  triumphs  in  Persia,  be- 
cause all  of  the  Mohammedan  generals  and 
soldiers  in  Syria  were  not  able  to  cope  with 
the  power  of  Heraclius.  They  had  seen 
him  invested  with  the  supreme  power  by 
the  Caliph  Abu-Bekr,  Omar's  predeces- 
sor, and  watched  while,  single-handed,  he 
fought  and  conquered  the  great  warrior, 
Eomanus. 

Most  of  them  had  been  with  him  before 
the  walls  of  Damascus,  when  he  besieged 
that  magnificently  fortified  city  upon  one 
side,  and  fought  and  conquered  an  army  of 
a  hundred  thousand  men  upon  the  other 
side,  sent  from  Antioch,  by  Heraclius,  for 
the  relief  of  the  great  city.  Then  they  wit- 
nessed the  fall  of  Damascus,  and  followed 
Kahled  as  he  attacked  and  put  to  flight  an 
army  outnumbering  his  by  two  to  one,  and 


t 
KAN  ANA'S  THIED  MISSION     119 

equipped  and  drilled  in  the  most  modern 
methods  of  Roman  warfare. 

They  had  fought  with  him  in  the  fiercest 
battles  ever  recorded  of  those  desert  lands, 
and  they  only  knew  him  as  Kahled  the  In- 
vincible. 

After  Abu-Bekr  had  died  and  Omar  the 
Great  had  taken  his  place,  the  proud  sol- 
diers saw  their  general  unjustly  deposed 
and  given  such  minor  work  as  tenting  about 
the  besieged  cities,  while  others  did  the 
fighting,  until  he  left  Syria  in  disgust. 

No  wonder  they  were  glad  to  see  him  re- 
called to  take  his  proper  place.  They 
jested  without  end  about  the  cowards  who 
were  frightened  because  Heraclius  had 
threatened  to  annihilate  the  Mussulmans. 
And  the  march  was  one  grand  holiday,  in 
spite  of  heat  and  hardships. 

As  Kanana  lay  in  his  litter  and  listened 
to  these  bursts  of  eloquence  in  praise  of 
the  general,  he  was  often  stirred  with  ar- 
dent patriotism  and  almost  persuaded  to 
cast  his  lot  among  the  soldiers;  but  the 


120     THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

same  odd  theories  which  before  had  pre- 
vented his  taking  up  a  lance,  restrained 
him  still. 

On  the  fourth  day  he  left  the  litter  and 
took  his  seat  upon  the  black  dromedary. 
Kahled  directed  that  costly  garments  and 
a  sword  and  lance  be  furnished  him,  but 
Kanana  prostrated  himself  before  the  gen- 
eral and  pleaded:  "My  father,  I  never 
held  a  lance,  and  Allah  knows  me  best  in 
this  sheepskin  coat." 

Kahled  frowned,  but  Kanana  sat  upon 
the  decorated  dromedary  precisely  as  he 
left  the  perch  in  the  harvest-field.  He  ex- 
pected to  take  his  place  with  the  camp-fol- 
lowers in  the  rear,  but  found  that  he  was 
still  to  ride  in  state  surrounded  by  the  vet- 
eran guard.  Indeed,  he  became  a  figure  so 
celebrated  and  conspicuous  that  many  a 
warrior  in  passing,  after  prostrating  him- 
self before  the  general,  touched  his  fore- 
head to  the  ground  before  Kanana  and  the 
black  dromedary. 


KANAKA'S  THIKD  MISSION     121 

It  might  have  made  a  pleasant  dream, 
while  sitting  upon  the  perch  in  the  harvest- 
field,  but  the  reality  disturbed  him,  and 
again  he  began  to  plan  some  means  of  es- 
cape. 

He  carefully  computed  the  position  of 
the  Beni  Sad  encampment,  and  determined 
the  day  when  the  army  would  pass  but  a 
few  miles  to  the  east  of  it. 

One  who  has  not  lived  upon  the  desert, 
and  seen  it  illustrated  again  and  again,  can 
scarcely  credit  the  accuracy  with  which  a 
wandering  Bedouin  can  locate  the  direc- 
tion and  distance  to  any  point  with  which 
he  is  familiar;  but  even  then  Kanana  was 
at  a  loss  as  to  how  to  accomplish  his  pur- 
pose when  the  whole  matter  was  arranged 
for  him,  and  he  was  supplied  with  a  work 
which  he  could  perform  for  Allah  and  Ara- 
bia, still  holding  his  shepherd's  staff  and 
wearing  his  sheepskin  coat. 

The  army  halted  for  the  night  upon  the 
eve  of  the  day  when  it  would  pass  near  the 


122     THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

encampment  of  the  Beni  Sads.  The  tent 
which  Kanana  occupied  was  pitched  next 
that  of  Kahled. 

He  sat  upon  the  ground  eating  his  sup- 
per. All  about  him  was  the  clatter  and 
commotion  of  the  mighty  host  preparing 
for  the  night,  when  he  heard  an  officer  re- 
porting to  the  general  that  in  three  days 
the  supply  of  grain  would  be  exhausted. 

"My  father,"  he  exclaimed,  prostrating 
himself  before  the  general,  "thy  servant's 
people,  the  Beni  Sads,  must  be  less  than  a 
night's  journey  to  the  north  and  west. 
They  were  harvesting  six  weeks  ago,  and 
must  have  five  hundred  camel-loads  of 
grain  to  sell.  Bid  me  go  to  them  to-night, 
and,  with  the  help  of  Allah,  by  the  sunrise 
after  to-morrow  it  shall  be  delivered  to  thy 
hand." 

Kahled  had  formed  a  very  good  opinion 
of  the  Bedouin  boy.  He  had  noticed  his 
uneasiness,  and,  suspecting  that  he  would 
make  an  endeavor  to  escape,  he  had  been 
searching  for  some  occupation  that  should 


KANANA 'S  THIED  MISSION     123 

prevent  it  by  rendering  him  more  content 
to  remain.  He  felt  that  a  time  might  come 
when  Kanana,  with  his  sheepskin  coat  and 
shepherd's  staff,  might  be  of  greater  value 
to  him  than  many  a  veteran  with  costly 
abbe  and  gleaming  sword. 

The  result  was  an  order  that,  one  hour 
after  sunset,  Kanana  should  start,  at  the 
head  of  a  hundred  horsemen,  with  ten  cam- 
els  laden  with  treasure  for  the  purchase 
of  grain,  with  twenty  camels  bearing  grain- 
sacks,  and  one  with  gifts  from  Kahled  to 
the  Terror  of  the  Desert,  in  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  service  rendered  by  his 
son. 

When  he  had  purchased  what  grain  the 
Beni  Sads  would  sell,  he  was  to  continue 
in  advance  of  the  army,  securing  supplies 
to  the  very  border  of  Syria. 

Kanana  was  no  prodigy  of  meekness 
that  he  should  not  appreciate  this  distinc- 
tion. A  prouder  boy  has  never  lived,  in 
Occident  or  Orient,  than  the  Bedouin  shep- 
herd who  sat  upon  the  black  dromedary 


124     THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

and  publicly  received  the  general's  bless- 
ing and  command  of  the  caravan. 

In  any  other  land  there  might  have  been 
rebellion  among  a  hundred  veteran  horse- 
men, when  placed  under  command  of  a  boy 
in  a  sheepskin  coat,  armed  only  with  a  shep- 
herd's staff,  but  there  was  no  man  of  them 
who  had  not  heard  wonderful  tales  of  Ka- 
nana's  courage;  and  the  shepherd  who  had 
left  the  harvest  field  six  weeks  before, 
known  only  as  the  coward  of  the  Beni  Sads, 
set  his  face  toward  home  that  night,  fol- 
lowed by  a  hundred  savage  warriors  who 
obeyed  him  as  one  of  the  bravest  of  all  the 
Bedouins. 

As  the  caravan  moved  rapidly  over  the 
plain,  bearing  its  costly  burden,  it  is  hardly 
surprising  that  the  beardless  chief  recalled 
his  last  interview  with  his  angry  father, 
when  that  veteran  sheik  refused  to  trust 
him  with  a  single  horse  to  start  upon  his 
mission;  but  he  was  none  the  less  anxious 
to  reach  his  father's  tent  and  receive  his 
father's  blessing. 


XI 

THE  SACKED  GIEDLE 

SHORTLY  after  midnight  five  horsemen 
who  rode  in  advance  returned  to  report 
a  large  encampment,  far  away  upon  the 
left.  Then  Kanana  took  the  lead  as  a 
brave  Bedouin  chieftain  should,  and,  fol- 
lowed by  the  caravan,  approached  the  smol- 
dering fires  which  betrayed  the  location  of 
the  camp. 

He  rode  directly  toward  the  tent  of  the 
sheik,  which  always  stands  in  the  outer 
line,  farthest  from  a  river  or  upon  the  side 
from  which  the  guests  of  the  tribe  will  be 
most  likely  to  approach. 

As  he  approached,  a  shadow  rose  silently 
out  of  the  shadows.  It  sniffed  the  air. 
Then  there  was  a  faint  grunt  of  satisfac- 
tion and  the  shadow  sank  down  into  the 
shadows  again. 

Kanana  slipped  from  the  back  of  the 

125 


126     THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

dromedary  without  waiting  for  him  to  lie 
down,  and,  running  forward  to  the  white 
camel,  whispered,  "I  knew  that  thou 
wouldst  know  me. ' ' 

The  Terror  of  the  Desert  appeared  at  the 
tent  door  with  a  hand  raised  in  blessing. 

Kanana  ran  to  his  father  with  a  cry  of 
joy,  and  the  white-haired  sheik  threw  his 
arms  about  the  neck  of  his  son  and  kissed 
him,  saying: 

"  Forgive  me,  Kanana,  my  brave  Ka- 
nana! I  said  that  thou  hadst  come  to 
curse  me  with  thy  cowardice,  and  lo !  thou 
hast  done  grander,  braver  deeds  than  I  in 
all  my  years !  Verily,  thou  hast  put  me  to 
shame,  but  it  is  with  courage,  not  with 
cowardice." 

Kanana  tried  to  speak,  but  tears  choked 
him.  All  alone  he  could  calmly  face  a 
score  of  savage  robbers,  armed  to  the 
teeth,  but  suddenly  he  discovered  that  he 
was  only  a  boy,  after  all.  He  had  almost 
forgotten  it.  And  in  helpless  silence  he 
clung  to  his  father's  neck. 


THE  SACEED  GIRDLE         127 

The  old  sheik  roused  himself. 

' 'Kanana,"  he  exclaimed,  "why  am  I  si- 
lent? The  whole  tribe  waits  to  welcome 
thee.  Ho!  every  one  who  sleepeth!"  he 
called  aloud,  " awake!  awake!  Kanana  is 
returned  to  us ! ' ' 

Far  and  near  the  cry  was  repeated,  and 
a  moment  later  the  people  came  hurrying 
to  greet  the  hero  of  the  Beni  Sads. 

Not  only  had  the  brother  returned  with 
the  white  camel  and  a  glowing  account  of 
his  rescue  by  the  veiled  messenger  of  the 
caliph,  but  a  special  officer  had  come,  by  a 
passing  caravan,  bearing  to  the  Terror  of 
the  Desert  a  bag  of  gold  and  the  congratu- 
lations of  Omar  the  Great,  that  he  was  the 
father  of  such  a  son. 

Now  the  gifts  from  Kahled  the  Invinci- 
ble arrived,  and  the  hundred  horsemen 
obeying  the  voice  of  Kanana.  The  Beni 
Sads  could  scarcely  believe  their  eyes  and 
ears. 

Torches  were  lighted.  Fires  were  re- 
kindled and,  before  sunrise,  the  grandest 


128     THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

of  all  grand  Bedouin  feasts  was  in  full 
glory. 

Vainly,  however,  did  the  old  sheik  bring 
out  the  best  robe  to  put  it  on  him;  with 
a  ring  for  his  hand  and  shoes  for  his  feet ; 
in  a  custom  for  celebrating  a  son's  return 
which  was  old  when  the  story  of  the  Prod- 
igal was  told. 

Kanana  only  shook  his  head  and  an- 
swered, "My  father,  Allah  knows  me  best 
barefooted  and  in  this  sheepskin  coat." 

The  Bedouin  seldom  tastes  of  meat 
except  upon  the  occasion  of  some 
feast. 

When  a  common  guest  arrives,  unleav- 
ened bread  is  baked  and  served  with  ayesh, 
a  paste  of  sour  camePs  milk  and  flour. 
But  Kanana  was  not  a  common  guest. 

For  one  of  higher  rank  coffee  and 
melted  butter  is  prepared,  but  these  were 
not  enough  for  a  welcome  to  Kanana. 

For  one  still  higher  a  Md  or  lamb  is 
boiled  in  camePs  milk  and  placed  in  a  great 
wooden  dish  covered  with  melted  fat  and 


THE  SACEED  GIEDLE        129 

surrounded  by  a  paste  of  wheat  that  has 
been  boiled  and  dried  and  ground  and 
boiled  again  with  butter. 

Twenty  lambs  and  kids  were  thus  pre- 
pared, but  the  people  were  not  satisfied. 
Nothing  was  left  but  the  greatest  and 
grandest  dish  which  a  Bedouin  tribe  can 
add  to  a  feast  in  an  endeavor  to  do  honor 
to  its  noblest  guest.  Two  she-camels  were 
killed  and  the  meat  quickly  distributed  to 
be  boiled  and  roasted.  All  for  the  boy 
who  had  left  them,  six  weeks  before,  with 
no  word  of  farewell  but  the  parting  taunt 
of  a  rat-catcher. 

While  the  men  were  eating  the  meat  and 
drinking  camel's  milk  and  coffee,  the 
women  sang  patriotic  songs,  often  substi- 
tuting Kanana's  name  for  that  of  some 
great  hero ;  and  when  the  men  had  finished 
and  the  women  gathered  in  the  maharems 
to  feast  upon  what  was  left,  the  Terror  of 
the  Desert,  roused  to  the  highest  pitch  of 
patriotism,  declared  his  intention  to  join 
the  army  of  Kahled,  and  nearly  two  hun- 


130     THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

dred  of  the  Beni  Sads  resolved  to  follow 
him. 

It  was  nearly  noon  when  Kanana  and 
those  who  were  with  him  went  to  sleep  in 
the  goat's-hair  tents,  leaving  the  whole 
tribe  at  work,  packing  the  grain-sacks, 
loading  the  camels,  and  cleaning  their 
weapons  for  war. 

Kanana  performed  his  mission  faith- 
fully, little  dreaming  that  Kahled's  one  de- 
sign in  placing  it  in  his  hands  was  to  keep 
him  with  the  army  for  services  of  much 
greater  importance. 

The  time  which  the  general  anticipated 
came  when  the  hosts  of  Kahled,  joined  by 
the  Mohammedan  armies  of  Syria  and 
Arabia,  were  finally  encamped  at  Yermonk 
upon  the  borders  of  Palestine. 

Kanana  was  summoned  to  the  general's 
tent  and,  trembling  like  the  veriest  coward 
in  all  the  world,  he  fell  upon  his  face  be- 
fore the  man  to  whom  was  entrusted  the 
almost  hopeless  task  of  rescuing  Arabia. 


THE  SACRED  GIRDLE        131 

To  Kahled  alone  all  eyes  were  turned  and 
Kanana  trembled,  not  because  he  was 
frightened,  but  because  he  was  alone  in  the 
tent  with  one  who  seemed  to  him  but  little 
less  than  God  himself. 

Kahled 's  words  were  always  few  and 
quickly  spoken. 

"Son  of  the  Terror  of  the  Desert,"  said 
he,  "many  conflicting  rumors  reach  me 
concerning  the  approaching  enemy.  I 
want  the  truth.  I  want  it  quickly.  What 
dost  thou  require  to  aid  thee  in  perform- 
ing this  duty?" 

Kanana 's  forehead  still  touched  the 
ground.  Overwhelmed  by  this  sudden 
order,  an  attempt  to  obey  which,  meant 
death,  without  mercy,  without  one  chance 
in  a  hundred  of  escape,  he  altogether  for- 
got to  rise. 

Kahled  sat  in  silence,  understanding  hu- 
man nature  too  well  to  disturb  the  boy,  and 
for  five  minutes  neither  moved.  Then  Ka- 
nana rose  slowly  and  his  voice  trembled  a 


132     THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

little  as  he  replied,  "My  father,  I  would 
have  thy  fleetest  horse,  thy  blessing,  and 
thy  girdle." 

Kahled  the  Invincible  wore  a  girdle  that 
was  known  to  every  soldier  and  camp-fol- 
lower of  the  army.  It  was  of  camel's-skin, 
soft-tanned  and  colored  with  a  brilliant 
Persian  dye,  which  as  far  away  as  it 
could  be  seen  at  all,  no  one  could  mis- 
take. 

It  was  part  of  a  magnificent  curtain 
which  once  hung  in  the  royal  palace  of 
Babylon.  It  pleased  the  fancy  of  the  fierce 
warrior,  and  he  wore  it  as  a  girdle  till  it 
became  his  only  insignia.  There  was  not 
a  color  like  it  within  hundreds  of  miles  at 
least,  and  when  the  people  saw  it  they  knew 
that  it  was  Kahled. 

"Take  what  horse  thou  wilt,"  replied 
the  general.  "I  give  thee,  now,  my  bless- 
ing." Then  he  hesitated  for  a  moment. 
Had  Kanana  asked  a  hundred  camels  or 
a  thousand  horsemen  he  would  have  added, 
"Take  them."  As  it  was,  he  said,  a  little 


THE  SACEED  GIRDLE         133 

doubtfully,  "What  wouldst  thou  with  my 
girdle  1" 

In  all  the  direct  simplicity  which  clung 
to  him  in  spite  of  everything,  Kanana  re- 
plied: "I  would  hide  it  under  my  coat;  I 
would  that  it  be  proclaimed  throughout  the 
army  that  some  one  has  fled  to  the  enemy 
with  the  sacred  girdle,  and  that  a  great  re- 
ward be  offered  to  him  who  shall  return 
to  Kahled  any  fragment  of  it  he  may  find/' 

Without  another  word,  the  general  un- 
wound the  sacred  girdle,  and  Kanana, 
reverently  touching  it  to  his  forehead, 
bound  it  about  him  under  his  sheepskin 
coat. 

Kneeling,  he  received  the  blessing,  and 
leaving  the  tent,  he  selected  the  best  of 
Kahled 's  horses  and  disappeared  in  the 
darkness,  alone. 

The  next  morning  an  oppressive  sense 
of  inaction  hung  about  the  headquarters. 

The  only  order  issued  accompanied  an 
announcement  of  the  loss  of  the  sacred 
girdle. 


134     THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

Every  soldier  was  commanded  to  be  on 
the  watch  for  it,  to  seize  and  to  return  at 
once  to  Kahled,  even  the  smallest  fragment 
which  might  be  found.  For  this  the  fortu- 
nate man  was  promised  as  many  gold 
coins  as,  lying  flat,  could  be  made  to  touch 
the  piece  which  he  returned. 


XII 


KANAKA'S  MESSENGERS 


FAB  and  wide  the  impatient  soldiers 
asked,  "Why  is  the  army  inac- 
tive ?" 

"Is  not  the  motto  of  Kahled  ' Waiting 
does  not  win7?" 

"Has  he  not  taught  us  that  action  is  the 
soul  and  secret  of  success?" 

"Does  he  not  realize  that  the  hosts  of 
Heraclius  are  bearing  down  upon  us,  that 
he  leaves  us  sitting  idly  in  our  tents?" 

"Is  Kahled  the  Invincible  afraid?" 

Such  were  the  questions  which  they  put 
to  their  officers,  but  no  one  dared  carry 
them  to  the  general,  who  sat  in  his  tent 
without  speaking,  from  sunrise  to  sunset, 
the  first  day  after  the  girdle  disappeared. 

"Is  it  the  loss  of  his  girdle?" 

"Did  he  not  conquer  Babylonia  without 
it?" 

135 


136     THE  LANCE  OF  KANAKA 

"Does  he  not  fight  in  the  name  of  Allah 
and  the  Prophet?  Could  a  bright-colored 
girdle  give  him  strength?" 

Thus  the  second  day  went  by. 

Kahled  the  Invincible  was  silent  and  sul- 
len, and  the  impression  grew  and  grew  that 
in  some  way  the  safety  and  success  of  the 
whole  army  depended  upon  the  recovery 
of  that  girdle. 

So  intense  was  this  sentiment,  that  when 
at  midnight,  after  the  third  day,  it  was  re- 
ported that  a  fragment  of  the  girdle  had 
been  captured  by  some  scouts,  and  was 
then  being  taken  to  the  general's  tent,  the 
whole  army  roused  itself  and  prepared  for 
action. 

Not  an  order  had  been  issued,  yet  every 
soldier  felt  instinctively  that  the  coming 
morning  would  find  him  on  the  march. 

It  was  midnight.  For  a  day  Kahled  had 
not  even  tasted  food.  He  sat  alone  in  his 
tent  upon  a  Persian  ottoman.  A  bronze 
vessel  from  Babylonia,  filled  with  oil,  stood 
near  the  center  of  the  tent.  Fragments 


KANANA'S  MESSENGERS     137 

of  burning  wick,  floating  in  the  oil,  filled 
the  tent  with  a  mellow,  amber  light. 

There  was  excitement  without,  but  Kah- 
led  did  not  heed  it  till  a  soldier  unceremo- 
niously entered,  bearing  in  his  hand  a  part 
of  the  curtain  from  the  palace  of  Baby- 
lon. 

With  a  sudden  ejaculation  Kahled  caught 
it  from  the  soldier's  hand,  but  ashamed  of 
having  betrayed  an  emotion,  he  threw  it 
carelessly  upon  the  rug  at  his  feet,  hand- 
ing the  soldier  a  bag  of  gold,  and  bidding 
him  see  how  many  pieces,  lying  flat,  could 
touch  it. 

The  soldier  worked  slowly,  carefully 
planning  the  position  as  he  laid  the  pieces 
down,  and  Kahled  watched  him  as  indif- 
ferently as  though  he  were  only  moving 
men  upon  the  Arab's  favorite  checker- 
board. 

When  every  piece  that  could  was  touch- 
ing the  camel  skin,  the  soldier  returned  the 
bag,  half -emptied,  and  began  to  gather  up 
his  share. 


138     THE  LANCE  OF  KANAKA 

Rallied  deliberately  emptied  the  bag, 
bidding  Mm  take  the  whole  and  go. 

He  was  leaving  the  tent  when  the  gen- 
eral called  him  back.  He  had  picked  up 
the  skin,  and  was  carelessly  turning  it  over 
in  his  hand.  It  was  neatly  cut  from  the 
girdle,  in  the  shape  of  a  shield,  a  little  over 
a  foot  in  width. 

"How  did  you  come  by  it?"  Kahled 
asked  indifferently. 

"We  were  searching  the  plain,  a  day's 
journey  to  the  north,"  the  soldier  an- 
swered. "We  were  looking  for  travelers 
who  might  bring  tidings  of  the  enemy. 
We  saw  four  strangers,  Syrians,  riding 
slowly,  and  a  shepherd  who  seemed  to  be 
their  guide.  Upon  his  horse's  front,  hung 
like  a  breastplate,  where  every  eye  could 
see,  was  yonder  piece  of  the  sacred  girdle. 
We  dashed  upon  them,  and  the  cowards 
ran.  The  shepherd  was  the  last  to  turn. 
I  was  ahead,  but  not  near  enough  to  reach 
him,  so  I  threw  my  lance.  He  fell  from 
his  horse  and — " 


KANAKA'S  MESSENGEES     139 

"You  killed  him?"  shrieked  the  gen- 
eral, springing  to  his  feet  and  dropping 
the  camel  skin. 

"No !  no  I"  gasped  the  frightened  soldier. 
"I  only  tried  to.  He  wore  a  coat  of  sheep- 
skin. It  was  too  thick  for  my  lance.  He 
sprang  to  his  feet,  tore  the  lance  from  his 
coat,  and  ran  after  the  rest,  faster  even 
than  they  could  ride,  leaving  his  horse  be- 
hind. " 

"'Tis  well,"  muttered  the  general,  and 
he  devoutly  added,  "Allah  be  praised  for 
that  sheepskin  coat!" 

The  soldier  left  the  tent,  and  going 
nearer  to  the  light,  Kahled  examined  the 
fragment  of  the  sacred  girdle.  It  was 
double.  Two  pieces  had  been  cut  and  the 
edges  joined  together. 

He  carefully  separated  them,  and  upon 
the  inner  side  found  what  he  evidently  ex- 
pected. 

These  words  had  been  scratched  upon 
the  leather,  and  traced  with  blood: 

"Sixty    thousand,    from    Antioch    and 


140     THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

Aleppo,  under  Jababal  the  traitor,  encamp 
two  days  from  Yermonk,  north,  waiting 
for  Manuel  with  eighty  thousand  Greeks 
and  Syrians,  now  six  days  away.  Still 
another  army  is  yet  behind.  Thy  servant 
goes  in  search  of  Manuel  when  this  is 
sent." 

"  Allah  be  praised  for  that  sheepskin 
coat!"  Kahled  repeated,  placing  the  frag- 
ment in  his  belt,  and  walking  slowly  up 
and  down  the  tent. 

"Jababal  is  two  days  to  the  north,"  he 
added  presently.  "A  day  ago  Manuel  was 
six  days  behind  him.  He  will  be  still  three 
days  behind  when  I  reach  Jababal,  and 
while  he  is  yet  two  days  away,  the  sixty 
thousand  in  advance  will  be  destroyed." 

An  order  was  given  for  ten  thousand 
horsemen  and  fifteen  thousand  camel  riders 
to  start  for  the  north  at  once.  The  soldiers 
expected  it,  and  were  ready  even  before 
the  general. 

Four  days  and  a  night  went  by,  and  they 
were  again  encamped  at  Yermonk;  but 


KANAKA'S  MESSENGERS     141 

Jababal's  army  of  sixty  thousand  men,  was 
a  thing  of  the  past. 

Again  a  strip  of  the  girdle  was  discov- 
ered. This  time  it  hung  upon  the  neck  of 
a  camel  leading  into  the  camp  a  long  cara- 
van laden  with  grain  and  fruit. 

The  camel-driver  reported  that  one  had 
met  them  while  they  were  upon  the  way  to 
supply  the  army  of  Manuel.  He  had 
warned  them  that  Manuel  would  simply 
confiscate  the  whole  and  make  them  pris- 
oners, and  had  promised  that  if  they  turned 
southward  instead,  to  the  camp  of  Kahled, 
with  the  talisman  which  he  hung  about  the 
camePs  neck,  they  should  be  well  received 
and  fairly  treated. 

From  this  talisman  Kahled  learned  that 
the  army  of  Manuel  was  almost  destitute 
of  provisions,  and  that  a  detachment  with 
supplies  was  another  five  or  six  days  be- 
hind. 

The  general  smiled  as  he  thought  how 
the  Bedouin  boy  had  shrewdly  deprived  the 
hungry  enemy  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  camel- 


142     THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

loads  of  food,  while  lie  secured  for  him- 
self an  excellent  messenger  to  his  friends. 

During  the  night  Manuel's  magnificent 
army  arrived,  and  encamped  just  north  of 
the  Mohammedans.  Manuel  chose  for  his 
citadel  a  high  cliff  that  rose  abruptly  out 
of  the  plain  between  the  two  armies,  and 
ended  in  a  precipitous  ledge  toward  Ara- 
bia. 

Standing  upon  the  brow  of  this  cliff,  a 
little  distance  from  the  tent  of  Manuel,  one 
could  look  far  down  the  valley,  over  the 
entire  Mohammedan  encampment. 

When  morning  dawned,  the  prince  sent 
for  the  leading  Mohammedan  generals  to 
confer  with  him  concerning  terms  of 
peace.  He  offered  to  allow  the  entire  army 
to  retire  unmolested,  if  hostages  were 
given  that  the  Arabs  should  never  again 
enter  Syria. 

The  Mohammedan  generals,  who  had 
been  thoroughly  dismayed  at  the  sight  of 
the  Grecian  phalanx,  thanked  Allah  for 
such  a  merciful  deliverance,  and  instantly 


XANANA'S  MESSENGERS     143 

voted  to  accept.  The  real  authority,  how- 
ever, rested  with  Kahled,  who  replied, 
"Remember  Jababal!" 

With  so  many  in  favor  of  peace,  Ma- 
nuel hoped  for  an  acceptance  of  his  terms, 
and  proposed  that  they  consider  the  matter 
for  a  day. 

Kahled,  with  his  hand  upon  the  camel- 
skin  in  his  belt,  replied  again:  "Remem- 
ber Jababal!" 

He  realized  that  his  only  hope  of  victory 
lay  in  striking  a  tired  and  hungry  enemy, 
and  that  each  hour's  delay  was  dangerous. 
Less  than  half  an  hour  later  he  was  rid- 
ing along  the  line  of  battle  shouting  the 
battle  cry: 

"Paradise  is  before  you!  Fight  for 
it!" 

The  soldiers  were  ready,  and  there  be- 
gan the  most  desperate  struggle  that  was 
ever  waged  upon  the  plains  of  Syria. 

All  day  long  the  furious  conflict  raged. 
Three  times  the  Bedouins  were  driven 
back.  Three  times  the  cries  and  entreaties 


144     THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

of  their  women  and  children  in  the  rear 
urged  them  to  renew  the  fight,  and  again 
they  plunged  furiously  upon  the  solid  Gre- 
cian phalanx. 

Night  came,  and  neither  army  had  gained 
or  lost,  but  among  the  Bedouin  captives 
taken  by  the  Greeks  were  several  who  rec- 
ognized Kanana.  They  saw  him  moving 
freely  about  the  enemy's  camp.  They 
learned  that  he  was  supposed  to  be  a  serv- 
ant who  had  fled,  with  other  camp-follow- 
ers, at  the  time  of  the  slaughter  of  Ja- 
babal's  army.  They  could  see  in  it  nothing 
but  cowardly  desertion.  They  said: 

"He  was  afraid  that  we  should  be  con- 
quered, and  instead  of  standing  by  us  to 
fight  for  Arabia,  he  ran  to  the  enemy  to 
hide  himself;"  and  in  their  anger  they  be- 
trayed him.  They  reported  to  the  Greeks 
that  he  was  a  Bedouin,  of  the  army  of 
Kahled,  not  a  Syrian  servant  of  Jababal. 

Kanana  was  quickly  seized,  bound  and 
dragged  into  the  presence  of  the  prince. 
Manuel  had  suspected  that  some  one  had 


KANANA'S  MESSENGERS     145 

betrayed  both  Jababal  and  himself  to 
Kahled,  and  chagrined  at  the  result  of  the 
first  day's  battle,  he  fiercely  accused  Ka- 
nana. 

Calmly  the  Bedouin  boy  admitted  that 
it  was  he  who  had  given  the  information, 
and  he  waited  without  flinching  as  Manuel 
drew  his  sword. 

"Boy,  dost  thou  not  fear  to  die?"  he 
exclaimed,  as  he  brandished  his  sword  be- 
fore Kanana. 

"I  fear  nothing V9  replied  Kanana 
proudly. 

"Take  him  away  and  guard  him  care- 
fully," muttered  the  prince.  "Dying  is 
too  easy  for  such  as  he.  He  must  be  tor- 
tured first." 

The  second  day  and  the  third  were  like 
the  first.  The  army  of  the  Prophet  fought 
with  a  desperation  that  never  has  been 
equaled.  The  Ishmaelite  counted  his  life 
as  nothing  so  that  he  saw  a  Greek  fall  with 
him.  It  was  the  fate  of  Allah  and  Arabia 
for  which  they  fought,  and  they  stood  as 


146     THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

though  rooted  to  the  ground,  knowing  of 
no  retreat  but  death. 

Again  and  again  their  general's  voice 
rang  loud  above  the  clashing  arms : 

"Paradise  is  before  you  if  you  fight! 
Hell  waits  for  him  who  runs !"  And  they 
fought  and  fought  and  fought,  and  not  a 
man  dared  turn  his  back. 

Again  and  again  the  Grecian  phalanx 
advanced,  but  they  found  a  wall  before 
them  as  solid  as  the  cliff  behind  them. 

When  a  Bedouin  lay  dead  he  ceased  to 
fight,  but  not  before;  and  the  moment  he 
fell,  another  sprang  forward  from  behind 
to  take  his  place. 


xin 

THE   LANCE   OF  KANANA 

THE  army  of  the  Prophet  had  not  re- 
treated one  foot  from  its  original 
position,  when  night  brought  the  third 
day's  battle  to  a  close. 

Kahled  sank  upon  the  ground  among  his 
soldiers,  while  the  women  from  the  rear 
brought  what  refreshment  they  could  to 
the  tired  warriors. 

All  night  he  lay  awake  beside  his  gray 
battle-horse,  looking  at  the  stars  and  think- 
ing. 

Flight  or  death  would  surely  be  the  re- 
sult of  the  coming  day.  Even  Kahled  the 
Invincible,  had  given  up  all  hope  of  victory. 

He  was  too  brave  a  man  to  fly,  but  he 
was  also  too  brave  to  force  others  to  stand 
and  be  slaughtered  for  his  pride. 

It  was  a  bitter  night  for  him,  but  as  the 

147 


148     THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

eastern  sky  was  tinged  with  gray,  he  at 
last  resolved  to  make  the  sacrifice  himself, 
and  save  such  of  his  people  as  he  could. 

The  women  and  children,  with  the 
wounded  who  could  be  moved,  must  leave 
at  once,  taking  all  that  they  could  carry 
with  them,  and  scatter  themselves  in  every 
direction.  • 

When  they  were  well  away,  he,  with  such 
as  preferred  to  stand  and  die  with  him, 
would  hold  the  foe  in  check  while  the  rest 
of  the  army  retreated,  with  orders  to 
march  at  once  to  Mecca  and  Medina,  and 
hold  those  two  sacred  cities  as  long  as  a 
man  remained  alive. 

He  breathed  a  deep  sigh  when  the  plan 
was  completed,  and  rising,  mounted  his 
tired  charger,  to  see  that  it  was  properly 
executed. 

It  was  the  first  time  in  his  career  that 
Kahled  the  Invincible  had  ordered  a  re- 
treat, and  his  only  consolation  was  that  he 
was  neither  to  lead  nor  join  in  it. 

In  the  camp  of  Manuel  the  same  dread 


THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA     149 

of  the  coming  day  clouded  every  brow. 
Food  was  entirely  exhausted.  Horses  and 
camels  had  been  devoured.  They  had 
neither  the  means  with  which  to  move 
away,  nor  the  strength  to  stand  their 
ground. 

Their  solid  phalanx  was  only  what  the 
enemy  saw  along  the  front.  Bank  after 
rank  had  been  supplied  from  the  rear  till 
there  was  nothing  left  to  call  upon. 

All  that  remained  of  the  eighty  thousand 
iron-hearted  fighters — the  pride  of  the  Em- 
peror Heraclius — as  they  gathered  about 
the  low  camp  fires,  confessed  that  they 
were  overmatched  by  the  sharper  steel  of 
Mohammedan  zeal  and  Bedouin  patriot- 
ism. 

Manuel  and  his  officers  knew  that  for  at 
least  three  days  no  relief  could  reach  them ; 
they  knew,  too,  that  they  could  not  endure 
another  day  of  fighting. 

"If  we  could  make  them  think  that  their 
men  are  deserting  and  joining  us,  we  might 
frighten  them,"  suggested  an  officer. 


150     THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

"Send  for  the  spy,"  said  Manuel  quickly, 
"and  let  it  be  proclaimed  to  the  other  pris- 
oners that  all  who  will  join  us  shall  be  set 
free,  and  that  those  who  refuse  shall  be 
slaughtered  without  mercy. " 

Haggard  and  worn  Kanana  stood  before 
him.  For  fifty  hours  he  had  lain  bound, 
in  a  cave  at  the  foot  of  the  cliff,  without  a 
drop  of  water  or  a  morsel  of  food. 

"I  am  about  to  torture  thee,"  said  the 
prince.  "Thou  hast  wronged  me  more 
than  thy  sufferings  can  atone,  but  I  shall 
make  them  as  bitter  as  I  can.  Hast  thou 
anything  to  say  before  the  work  begins  ?" 

Kanana  thought  for  a  moment,  then, 
hesitating  as  though  still  doubtful,  he  re- 
plied : 

"When  the  tempest  rages  on  the  desert, 
doth  not  the  camel  lay  him  down,  and  the 
young  camel  say  to  the  drifting  sand, 
'Cover  me;  kill  me,  I  am  helpless'?  But 
among  the  captives  taken  by  the  prince,  I 
saw  an  old  man  pass  my  cave.  He  is  full 
of  years,  and  for  him  I  would  part  my  lips. 


THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA     151 

I  hear  that  the  prince  will  have  the  prison- 
ers slain,  but  it  is  not  the  custom  of  my 
people  to  make  the  women,  the  old  men,  and 
the  children  suffer  with  the  rest.  May  it 
please  the  prince  to  double  every  torture 
he  has  prepared  for  me,  and  in  exchange 
to  set  that  old  man  free?" 

"Who  is  he?"  asked  the  prince. 

"The  one  with  a  long  white  beard. 
There  are  not  two,"  replied  Kanana. 

"And  what  is  he  to  you?" 

Kanana  hesitated. 

"He  shall  die  unless  you  tell  me,"  said 
the  prince,  and  Kanana 's  cold  lips  trem- 
bled as  he  whispered: 

"He  is  my  father." 

"  'Tis  well, ' '  said  Manuel.  '  <  Let  him  be 
brought. ' ' 

The  old  man  entered,  but  paused  at  the 
opposite  side  of  the  tent,  looking  reproach- 
fully at  his  son.  He  had  heard  from  the 
other  captives  how  they  had  discovered 
Kanana,  a  deserter  in  the  hour  of  danger, 
living  in  the  tents  of  the  enemy.  Even  he 


152     THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

had  believed  the  tale,  and  he  was  enough 
of  a  patriot  to  be  glad  that  they  betrayed 
his  son. 

"Is  this  thy  father?"  asked  the  prince. 
"He  does  not  look  it  in  his  eyes." 

Kanana,  simply  bowed  his  head. 

That  look  was  piercing  his  heart  far 
deeper  than  the  threats  of  torture;  but 
Manuel  continued: 

"You  have  offered  to  suffer  every  tor- 
ture I  can  devise  if  I  will  set  him  free. 
But  you  have  not  compassed  your  debt  to 
me.  You  gave  to  Kahled  the  information 
by  which  he  conquered  Jababal.  You  gave 
him  information  which  prevented  his  mak- 
ing terms  of  peace  with  me.  But  for  you 
I  should  be  on  my  way  to  Mecca  and  Me- 
dina, to  sweep  them  from  the  earth.  But 
I  like  courage,  and  you  have  shown  more 
of  it  than  Kahled  himself.  It  is  a  pity  to 
throw  a  heart  like  yours  under  a  clod  of 
earth,  and  I  will  give  you  an  opportunity 
to  save  both  yourself  and  your  father. 
Stand  upon  the  brow  of  the  cliff  yonder, 


THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA     153 

as  the  sun  comes  up.  There,  according  to 
the  custom  of  your  people,  wave  this  lance 
above  your  head.  Shout  your  own  name 
and  your  father's,  so  that  all  of  your 
people  can  hear,  and  tell  them  that  in  one 
hour  thirty  thousand  Arabs  will  draw  the 
sword  for  the  cause  of  Heraclius.  Then 
throw  the  lance,  and  if  your  aim  be  good, 
and  you  do  kill  an  Arab,  that  moment  I 
will  set  thy  father  free,  and  thou  shalt  be 
made  a  prince  among  my  people.  Do  not 
refuse  me,  or,  after  I  have  tortured  thee, 
with  red-hot  irons  I  will  burn  out  thy 
father's  eyes,  lest  he  should  still  look 
savagely  upon  thy  corpse ! ' ' 

He  had  scarcely  ceased  speaking  when 
the  old  sheik  exclaimed : 

"My  son!  My  Kanana,  I  have  wronged 
thee!  Forgive  me  if  thou  canst,  but  let 
him  burn  out  my  eyes !  Oh !  not  for  all  the 
eyes  that  watch  the  stars  would  I  have  a 
son  of  mine  a  traitor.  Thou  wouldst  not 
lift  a  lance  before.  I  charge  thee  now,  by 
Allah,  lift  it  not  for  any  price  that  can  be 


154     THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

offered  thee  by  this  dog  of  an  infidel !" 

Kanana  did  not  look  at  his  father.  His 
eyes  were  fixed  on  Manuel,  and  when  all 
was  still,  he  asked: 

"Will  the  prince  allow  his  captive  to  sit 
alone  till  sunrise  and  consider  his  offer?" 

"Take  him  out  upon  the  cliff  and  let  him 
sit  alone,"  said  Manuel;  "but  have  the 
irons  heated  for  his  father's  eyes." 

Kanana  chose  a  spot  whence  he  could 
overlook  the  valley,  and  whatever  his  first 
intentions  may  have  been,  he  changed  them 
instantly,  with  his  first  glance.  He  started, 
strained  his  eyes,  and  looked  as  far  as  his 
keen  sight  could  pierce  the  gray  light  of 
early  morning. 

Then  his  head  sank  lower  and  lower  over 
his  hands,  lying  in  his  lap,  till  the  wings  of 
his  turban  completely  covered  them.  He 
did  not  move  or  look  again. 

In  that  one  glance  he  had  recognized  the 
result  of  Kahled's  last  resolve.  In  the 
gray  distance  he  saw  that  laden  camels 
were  moving  to  the  south.  He  saw  the 


THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA     155 

dark  spots,  most  distant  in  the  valley,  sud- 
denly disappear.  They  were  folding  their 
tents !  They  were  moving  away!  Kahled 
the  Invincible  had  ordered  a  retreat. 

Kanana  knew  that  to  retreat  at  that  mo- 
ment meant  death  to  Arabia,  but  he  did  not 
move  again  till  an  officer  touched  him  on 
the  shoulder,  and  warned  him  that  in  a  mo- 
ment more  the  sun  would  rise. 

With  a  startled  shudder  he  rose  and  en- 
tered Manuel's  tent. 

"Is  the  word  of  the  prince  unchanged?" 
he  asked.  "If  I  speak  the  words  and 
throw  the  lance  and  kill  an  Arab,  that  mo- 
ment will  he  set  my  father  free!" 

"I  swear  it  by  all  the  powers  of  earth 
and  heaven!"  replied  the  prince. 

"Give  me  the  lance,"  said  Kanana. 

His  father  crouched  against  the  tent, 
muttering:  "For  such  an  act,  Kanana, 
when  I  am  set  free  I  will  find  first  a  fire 
with  which  to  heat  an  iron,  and  burn  my 
own  eyes  out." 

Kanana  did  not  heed  him.    He  took  the 


156     THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

lance,  tested  it,  and  threw  it  scornfully 
upon  the  ground. 

'  *  Give  me  a  heavier  one ! ' '  he  exclaimed. 
"Do  you  think  me  like  your  Greek  boys, 
made  of  wax!  Give  me  a  lance  that,  when 
it  strikes,  will  kill." 

They  gave  him  a  heavier  lance. 

"The  hand-rest  is  too  small  for  a  Bed- 
ouin," he  muttered,  grasping  it;  "but 
wait!  I  can  remedy  that  myself.  Come. 
Let  us  have  it  over  with. ' ' 

As  he  spoke  he  tore  a  strip  from  beneath 
his  coat,  and,  turning  sharply  about, 
walked  before  them  to  the  brink  of  the  cliff, 
winding  the  strip  firmly  about  the  hand- 
rest  of  the  lance. 

Upon  the  very  edge  he  stood  erect  and 
waited. 

The  sun  rose  out  of  the  plain,  and  flashed 
with  blinding  force  upon  the  Bedouin  boy, 
clad  in  his  sheepskin  coat  and  desert  tur- 
ban, precisely  as  it  had  found  him  in  the 
porch  of  Aaron's  tomb,  upon  the  summit 
of  Mount  Hor. 


THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA     157 

His  hand  no  longer  held  a  shepherd's 
staff,  but  firmly  grasped  a  Grecian  lance, 
that  gleamed  and  flashed  as  fiercely  as  the 
sun. 

Upon  Mount  Hor  he  was  bending  for- 
ward, eagerly  shading  his  eyes,  anxiously 
looking  away  into  the  dim  distance,  search- 
ing the  path  of  his  destiny. 

Now  there  was  no  eagerness.  Calmly 
he  stood  there.  Vainly  the  sun  flashed  in 
his  clear,  wide-open  eyes.  He  did  not  even 
know  that  it  was  shining. 

Not  a  muscle  moved.  Why  was  he  wait- 
ing? 

"Are  you  afraid?"  muttered  the  prince, 
who  had  come  as  near  as  possible  without 
being  too  plainly  seen  from  below.  "  Re- 
member your  old  father's  eyes." 

Kanana  did  not  turn  his  head,  but  calmly 
answered : 

"Do  you  see  yonder  a  man  upon  a  gray 
horse,  moving  slowly  among  the  soldiers? 
He  is  coming  nearer,  nearer.  That  man 
is  Kahled  the  Invincible.  If  he  should 


158     THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

come  within  range  of  the  lance  of  Kanana, 
I  suppose  that  Manuel  would  be  well 
pleased  to  wait?" 

"Good  boy!  Brave  boy!"  replied  the 
prince.  "When  thou  hast  made  thy  mind 
to  do  a  thing,  thou  doest  it  admirably. 
Kill  him,  and  thou  shalt  be  loaded  down 
with  gold  till  the  day  when  thou  diest  of 
old  age." 

Kanana  made  no  reply,  but  standing  in 
bold  relief  upon  the  cliff,  watched  calmly 
and  waited,  till  at  last  Kahled  the  Invin- 
cible left  the  line  of  soldiers,  and  alone 
rode  nearer  to  the  cliff. 

i  ( Now  is  your  chance !  Now !  now ! ' '  ex- 
claimed the  prince. 

Slowly  Kanana  raised  the  lance.  Three 
times  he  waved  it  above  his  head.  Three 
times  he  shouted: 

"I  am  Kanana,  son  of  the  Terror  of  the 
Desert!"  in  the  manner  of  the  Bedouin 
who  challenges  an  enemy  to  fight,  or  meets 
a  foe  upon  the  plain. 

For  a  moment,  then,  he  hesitated.     The 


THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA     159 

next  sentence  was  hard  to  speak.  He  knew 
too  well  what  the  result  would  be.  It 
needed  now  no  straining  of  the  eyes  to  see 
his  destiny. 

All  the  vast  army  down  below  was  look- 
ing up  at  him.  Thousands  would  hear  his 
words.  Tens  of  thousands  would  see  what 
followed  them. 

"Go  on!  go  on!"  the  prince  ejaculated 
fiercely. 

Kanana  drew  a  deep  breath  and  shouted : 

"In  one  hour  thirty  thousand  Arabs  will 
draw  the  sword  in  the  army  of  Heraclius I" 

Then  gathering  all  his  strength,  he 
hurled  the  lance  directly  at  the  great  Mo- 
hammedan general,  who  had  not  moved 
since  he  began  to  speak. 

Throughout  those  two  great  armies  one 
might  have  heard  a  sparrow  chirp,  as  the 
gleaming,  flashing  blade  fell  like  a  meteor 
from  the  cliff. 

The  aim  was  accurate.  The  Bedouin 
boy  cringed,  and  one  might  have  imagined 
that  it  was  even  more  accurate  than  he 


160     THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

meant.  It  pierced  the  gray  charger.  The 
war-horse  of  Kahled  plunged  forward  and 
fell  dead  upon  the  plain. 

A  fierce  howl  rose  from  the  ranks  of  the 
Ishmaelites.  Men  and  women  shrieked 
and  yelled. 

"Kanana  the  traitor!  A  curse  upon 
the  traitor  Kanana!"  rent  the  very  air. 

Such  was  the  confusion  which  followed 
that,  had  the  Greeks  been  ready  to  ad- 
vance, a  thousand  might  have  put  a  hun- 
dred thousand  Bedouins  to  flight.  But 
they  were  not  ready. 

Kanana  stood  motionless  upon  the  cliff. 
He  heard  the  yells  of  "Traitor!"  but  he 
knew  that  they  would  come,  and  did  not 
heed  them. 

Calmly  he  watched  till  Kahled  gained 
his  feet,  dragged  the  lance  from  his  dying 
horse,  and  with  it  in  his  hand,  hurried  to- 
ward the  soldiers. 

Only  once  he  turned,  and  for  an  instant 
looked  up  at  the  solitary  figure  upon  the 
cliff.  He  lifted  his  empty  hand,  as  though 


THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA     161 

it  were  a  blessing  and  not  a  malediction,  he 
bestowed  upon  the  Bedouin  boy;  then  he 
disappeared. 

With  a  deep,  shivering  sigh,  Kanana 
pressed  one  hand  beneath  his  sheepskin 
coat.  A  sharp  contortion  passed  over  him, 
but  he  turned  about  and  stood  calmly,  face 
to  face  with  Manuel. 

"You  did  well/'  said  the  prince,  "but 
you  did  not  kill  an  Arab.  It  was  for  that 
I  made  my  promise. ' ' 

"  'And  if  you  kill  an  Arab,'  "  gasped 
Kanana,  "  'that  moment  I  will  set  your 
father  freeM  Those  were  the  prince's 
words !  That  was  his  promise,  bound  by  all 
the  powers  of  earth  and  heaven!  He  will 
keep  it !  He  will  not  dare  defy  those  pow- 
ers, for  I  have  killed  an  Arab !" 

Clutching  the  sheepskin  coat,  Kanana 
tore  it  open,  and,  above  a  brilliant  girdle, 
they  saw  a  dagger  buried  in  his  bleeding 
breast.  He  tottered,  reeled,  stepped  back- 
ward, and  fell  over  the  brink  of  the  cliff. 

"You  may  as  well  go  free,"  said  Man- 


162     THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

uel,  turning  to  the  sheik.  "A  monstrous 
sacrifice  has  just  been  made  to  purchase 
your  liberty.'' 

Turning  abruptly  he  entered  his  tent  to 
consider,  with  his  officers,  the  next  result. 

6 'I  think  they  are  flying,"  an  officer  re- 
ported, coming  from  the  cliff.  ' ' The  horse- 
men and  camels  are  hurrying  into  the  hills. 
Only  foot  soldiers  seem  remaining  in  the 
front." 

"Let  every  soldier  face  them  who  has 
strength  to  stand!"  commanded  the  prince. 
"Put  everything  to  the  front,  and  if  they 
fly  give  them  every  possible  encourage- 
ment." 

The  order  was  obeyed,  and  the  fourth 
day  of  battle  began;  but  it  was  spiritless 
and  slow. 

The  Bedouins,  with  their  constantly 
thinning  ranks,  stood  with  grim  determina- 
tion where  their  feet  rested,  but  they  made 
no  effort  to  advance. 

The  wearied  out  and  starving  Grecian 
phalanx  simply  held  its  ground.  The 


THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA     163 

prince  was  not  there  to  urge  his  soldiers 
on.  The  voice  of  Kahled  did  not  sound 
among  the  Mussulmans. 

An  hour  went  by. 

Suddenly  there  was  an  uproar  in  the  rear 
of  the  army  of  Heraclius.  There  was  a 
wild  shout,  a  clash  of  arms,  and  the  watch- 
word of  Islam  rang  above  the  tumult,  in 
every  direction. 

Ten  thousand  horse  and  twenty  thou- 
sand war-camels  poured  in  upon  that  de- 
fenseless rear,  and,  even  as  Kanana  had 
declared,  in  just  one  hour  there  were  thirty 
thousand  Arabs  wielding  their  savage 
swords  in  the  army  of  Heraclius. 

Another  hour  went  by.  The  battle  cry 
of  Kahled  ceased.  The  shout  of  victory 
rang  from  the  throats  of  the  Mussulmans. 
Manuel  and  all  his  officers  were  slain.  The 
magnificent  army  of  Heraclius  was  literally 
obliterated. 

Treasure  without  limit  glutted  the  con- 
quered camp.  Arabia  was  saved. 

Quickly  the  soldiers  erected  a  gorgeous 


164     THE  LANCE  OF  KANANA 

throne  and  summoned  Kahled  to  sit  upon 
it,  while  they  feasted  about  him  and  did  him 
honor  as  their  victorious  and  invincible 
leader. 

The  veteran  warrior  responded  to  their 
call,  but  he  came  from  his  tent  with  his 
head  bowed  down,  bearing  in  his  arms  a 
heavy  burden.  Slowly  he  mounted  the 
platform,  and  upon  the  sumptuous  throne 
he  laid  his  burden  down. 

It  was  the  bruised  and  lifeless  bqdy  of 
Kanana. 

With  trembling  hand  the  grim  chief  drew 
back  the  sheepskin  coat,  and  all  men  then 
beheld,  bound  about  the  Bedouin  boy,  the 
sacred  girdle ! 

"I  gave  it  to  him,"  said  Kahled  sol- 
emnly; "and  upon  the  fragments  you  have 
returned  to  me,  he  wrote  the  information  by 
which  we  conquered  Jababal  and  Manuel. 
You  saw  him  throw  this  lance  at  me ;  you 
called  him  'traitor!'  but  about  the  hand- 
rest  there  was  wound  this  strip.  See !  In 
blood — in  his  blood — these  words  are  writ- 


THE  LANCE  OF  KANAKA     165 

ten  here:  'Do  not  retreat.  The  infidels 
are  starving  and  dying.  Strike  them  in  the 
rear.'  It  was  his  only  means  of  reaching 
me.  It  was  not  the  act  of  a  traitor.  No  I 
It  was  the  Lance  of  Kanana  that  rescued 
Arabia." 


THE  END 


14  DAY  USE 

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EDUCATION-PSYCHOLOGY 
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